


Strangers in Arms

by LadyDracarys, long_LIV_prairies



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: AU Inception, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Awkward Flirting, Blow Jobs, F/M, Fade-Touched, Flirting, Fluff and Smut, From Sex to Love, OCs screwing OCs, Oral Sex, Outdoor Sex, Public Sex, Rough Sex, Semi-Public Sex, Smut, Smut Au, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, aus of aus, but do they start to fall in love?, co-authored, dragon age smut, from behind, getting down and dirty in the woods, if you want to knows what happens, inquisition soldier au, mbit, or is it just lust?, outdoor smut, smutty smutty smut smut, supposed to be a one shot and will maybe be a smut au, this is awesome y’all, warm and fuzzies with a nice dose of filthy sass, when a warrior and an assassin try to release tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-09-20
Packaged: 2018-10-14 12:06:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 53,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10536120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyDracarys/pseuds/LadyDracarys, https://archiveofourown.org/users/long_LIV_prairies/pseuds/long_LIV_prairies
Summary: He’s a fade-touched warrior. She’s an expert assassin.They both harbor secrets about who they really are and what brought them to the Inquisition.When they meet on the eve of battle in the Arbor Wilds, curiosity and attraction draw them together. They help each other burn off some pre-battle, nervous energy, but they didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as they did.Soon, the two fighters find more and more excuses to spend time together, and what was intended to be one night of release... turns into so much more...





	1. Attraction

**Author's Note:**

> This is an AU of our separate epic Dragon Age fanfiction tales, using two of our popular OC’s that many Tumblr folks like to think of banging (including us).
> 
> Find the hunk [Here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3858271/chapters/8616355).  
> Find the minx [Here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8841850/chapters/20275030).

 

 

James felt a small wave of relief when the camp came into view, glad to be back from a skirmish in the Arbor Wilds. He adjusted the body he had draped over his back as he stepped free of the trees, and dodged a horse that was being led around the edge of the camp. The rest of James’s unit started to disperse, and he made his way toward the healer’s tent, the man on his back groaning slightly.

“Don’t worry Denis, we’re almost there.”

The man groaned again. “Took you long enough.”

“We walked all night to get you back,” James said, ducking inside the tent.

“Not fast enough,” Denis moaned as James slipped him off his back to the floor. Denis’s leg was bloodied and James realized, guiltily, still bent out of shape. One of the healers joined him at Denis’s side, shooting James a small smile.

“Back again, I see,” the woman said. James shrugged and the woman chuckled. “You never seem to need any healing. Not even a scratch.”

“I’ve been lucky I guess,” James said.

“Or good,” another woman's voice added from across the tent in a thick accent James had never heard before. He glanced over his shoulder to see a petite woman with bronze skin and long dreaded hair having her hand inspected by a mage. She gave James a sly smile. “You made it out of last night’s battle without a scratch? That means yer good.”

James cleared his throat. She was incredibly beautiful, with lively dark eyes and full, curved lips. Dark geometric tattoos circled her toned arms and covered her face, only adding to her beauty. He wasn’t often distracted by pretty faces, but something about the way this woman was smirking at him, heat and confidence in her gaze, had his entire body flushing with warmth.

He attempted to smile back, match the ease of her demeanor. “I guess I was _really_ lucky.” What he didn’t say was that he _had_ been injured. Multiple times. He’d just… healed immediately. However, he wasn’t going to try and explain how he had become fade-touched and gained the ability to heal almost instantly to a stranger.

The woman chuckled and flexed the hand that had been mended. “Nah, I’m betting you know how to use those big muscles of yours.” That statement was followed by a generous sweep of her burning eyes over his body, covered in armor, dirt, and blood as it was.

James desperately hoped he wasn’t flushing red, but deep down he knew it was hopeless. He felt like she could see right through his layers, and he found himself mirroring her action, glancing below her neck and imagining what she might look look like beneath her clothing. Her thin, light tunic hung delicately from her body, and a soft breeze drifting through the tent made it shift and reveal the curves it covered. And the skin-tight black leather leggings she wore left little to the imagination. When he looked back to her face, she was still watching him with a searing smile.

“Yeah, I know how to use them,” he told her, heart thumping a little more violently in his chest. He wasn’t used to gorgeous women so brazenly undressing him with their eyes, and wished he didn’t get so easily flustered.

She laughed.

James’s mind went blank at the sound, but before he could process a response, the healer inspecting Denis was pulling on his arm to get his attention. “Quit your flirting and help me straighten his leg.”

“I wasn’t flirting,” James mumbled. _Not very well at least_. He moved to hold down Denis’s shoulders so the healer could set the broken bone.

Denis cried out in pain the moment his leg was touched and thrashed out with his good leg, forcing the healer to retreat. “You need to stay still,” James told the man.

“It fucking hurts!” Denis yelled.

“Of course it fucking hurts,” James said through gritted teeth. “But we still need to straighten it.”

When Denis couldn’t keep still during the next attempt, James seriously thought about knocking him out. “Let me help,” the tattooed woman said. She grabbed the man’s good leg and nodded at the healer. With a few tugs, the bone was straightened, Denis screaming profanities the entire time.

Afterward, James was glad to get out of the tent, away from Denis and his ear-splitting complaints.

“Should’ve shoved a stick in his mouth,” the tattooed woman said as she followed him out of the tent. She rubbed the side of her head with a grimace. “My ears might ring for days…”

James laughed, a little too loudly. “His leg was broken pretty bad,” he said more quietly. He was surprised at just how short this woman was. There was something he liked about that. Though  petite, she was obviously strong and carried herself with a boldness he found attractive.

Closer and in the glow of morning sun, he noticed the shine from a dark metal ring looped through the septum of her nose, and that her dark brown eyes were subtly flecked with amber. She was even more breathtakingly beautiful out of the dim tent interior.

The woman scoffed, “I’ve had worse injuries after a turn in bed.”

James raised his eyebrows, stomach fluttering slightly at the thought of this woman in bed. “Really? That shouldn’t be… painful.” But his curiosity was piqued, and he wondered what she could possibly be doing that would hurt...

The woman laughed. “It can if yer doing it right,” she said as she reached up to slap the back of his shoulder. The contact - and the sheer power behind it from such a small woman - startled James and he didn’t quite know what to say. She must be joking, at least a little. She laughed again, and James found he was starting to love the sound. “So you heading out on another patrol?”

“Not until the battle tomorrow,” James told her.

She grinned. “Good.” Then she walked away with a wink, hips swaying slightly as she did.

James rubbed the back of his neck. He hadn’t intended to flirt, but she certainly did. He watched her disappear behind a tent, staring at the swing of her ass the entire way, wondering what those muscled curves would feel like under his hands.

Maybe he _should_ have tried harder to flirt back.

But they were in the middle of the Arbor Wilds, in a _war camp_. It wasn’t really the most appropriate place to  pick up a woman. He didn’t even know where they would go...

__

Abner rolled her neck and shoulders with a groan. Reaching up, she gripped at the muscles where so much tension had built up, and worked them in an attempt to relieve the pressure.

The eve of battle always put her on edge. Normally, when in the field, she didn’t have to wait for the action to start. She was always just... _in it._ As a spy and assassin Abner was ready to kill at a moment's notice. She didn’t have to sit around waiting for the fight to come to her. This kind of bullshit just made her antsy, and the nervous, excited energy ricocheted inside her body like thousands of little explosions. The anxiety manifested outwardly as she paced through tent alleyways and circled cooking fires, bouncing on the balls on her feet, stretching and flexing her fingers, and swaying every muscle she had individually.

Nothing was working.

She needed to calm the fuck down, or find an outlet for her jitters. The thought pulled a grin to her face when she remembered the sexy behemoth of a warrior she’d met in the healer’s tent earlier that day.

_Now that would be a way to work out some tension._

He’d certainly been charming, in a fumbling, flustered sort of way. And he’d obviously reciprocated her attraction, given his blushing, even if he didn’t seem to know what to do with it. Abner never could pass up the opportunity to appreciate a person like that. Perhaps she’d get lucky and find him also wandering the temporary tent city, and wondered what might happen if she saw him again.

She continued her meandering and general fidgeting, skin crawling with anticipation for tomorrow’s battle. Eventually, the sound of laughter pulled her toward a roaring fire surrounded by a group of soldiers. She thought perhaps the group would help her find release from her restlessness. When she arrived, she stood and listened outside the reach of the firelight as they swapped battle stories and showed off their scars.

All except one.

The handsome man she’d seen earlier was sitting on the other side of the fire. He did not participate in the comradery. Instead, he sat stoically next to the mercenary chief, Iron Bull. While the chief and other men spoke with excitement, he leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees. There was a dark, distant stare emanating from his eyes, a firm set to his jaw, and a small frown on his lips as he stared intently into the flames. His mind was definitely elsewhere. Abner felt certain she knew where he was, because she’d been stuck there all evening.

She entered the circle, perching herself on a vacant log, and let her gaze rest on him. She silently appreciated the contours of his body, visible to her now that he’d removed his armor. His tunic was light and airy, but she could still make out the bulges of the large muscles beneath the linen fabric. The contrast between the softness of his clothing and the rigidity of his body beneath was magnified by the firelight. Its orange glow played with the shadows of the night and enhanced everything about him. He was impressive. Magnificent, even.

His shoulder-length black hair was pulled half back to keep it from falling in front of his eyes. _And those eyes_. Wow. She had never seen such a unique combination of dark blue encircling bright green, like an opulent rift from the fade radiated directly from his iris. She had noticed them better outside the healer’s tent, but she couldn’t stop staring at them now.

He was enticing, even though he just sat there. She wanted him. Abner bit her lip and smirked to herself, imagining the things a man like that could do to her, and what she could do to him.

After watching him for several moments, wondering if he would ever look up from his lost thoughts - and thinking about all the ways she could expel her pent-up energy on such a fine example of a man - she saw Iron Bull nudge his shoulder and murmur something. The Qunari directed the man’s attention to her with a lift of his chin, and he finally met her gaze. She held it there for a moment, and when he didn’t look away, she smiled and rose to her feet.

Abner sashayed her way around the fire, never dropping his piercing stare while he watched her approach. She used her ass to squeeze between the men, forcing the Qunari to adjust himself and get out of her way.

“Fancy meeting you here,” she said, tipping her chin down a little to smirk at the man coyly.

“Same,” he replied. She watched the corners of his mouth twitch, as if he considered smiling but decided against it. He swallowed and cleared his throat before saying, “I’m James… I don’t think we exchanged names earlier.”

He was adorable. _So serious._ Her smile grew as she replied, “Abner,” with a nod. She resituated so that her leg pressed firmly against his and delighted in the way it made his eyes widen. “I was hoping I’d run into you tonight,” she said in a low, sultry voice.

His eyes grew even wider, and she realized those bursts of green were no dimmer in the night as they were that morning. “Oh? And why was that?”

She grinned a mischievous, lopsided grin, raising one eyebrow to match. She ran her fingers lightly over his knee and then rested her palm on his thigh, giving his muscles a squeeze. He spread his legs a fraction wider, spurring her forward. “I thought I might see these muscles of yours in action,” she said, honey dripping from her lips. “What do you say?” She locked her eyes on his, unwavering and searing. “Wanna give me a demonstration?”

He hesitated with a visible, heavy swallow. “You’d be better off waiting until tomorrow,” he said finally, “when the fighting starts.”

She barked out a laugh. Most would know right away what she was suggesting. She turned to smile at Bull. “Is he always this thick?”

Bull chuckled. “When it comes to his _muscles_ , yes.”

Abner turned back to James, catching the man glaring at the Qunari. His seriousness was endearing, but she felt compelled to free him of it. There would be time for seriousness in the morning. She swept her hand a fraction higher and was pleased when instead of removing it, he merely attempted to adjust himself, knocking her hand further up in the process.

James cleared his throat again. “I know what you two are…” A sharp puff of air left his nose in frustration. “I’m not thick.”

She laughed fully at that. Perhaps he wasn’t clueless after all. “Something tells me, that’s not true,” she snickered, and brazenly slid her hand up his leg a little more.

His cheeks flushed visibly, even in the dark-amber light, and he turned his face back to the fire. “That’s not what I meant,” he mumbled.

She adored the pout he was trying to hide. Everything he said and did was more and more precious. “Of course not,” she said, still laughing. He groaned softly and looked back at her, but his frown had lifted. She smiled suggestively, allowing her eyes to drift down to his crotch and back up. “So...How ‘bout that demonstration, then?,” she whispered, squeezing his thigh again.

There was a spark in his eye, a twitch of his lips, but he hesitated. “I’m… not sure.”

 _Alright, that’s enough of this_.

She wouldn’t beg the man. Abner sighed and rose from her seat, patting him on the shoulder. It was a shame, really. “Right. Well…If you change your mind and decide you _don’t_ want to spend your last night alone before you might die, come find me.”

She left him there to watch her leave, making sure her hips swayed as she did.

__

James watched Abner as she walked away, leather-wrapped backside swinging.

Enticing him.

He hadn’t thought he would see her again after that morning, not in a camp this large. But then she had appeared across the fire and walked right over to him, pressed her leg against his and ran her hand ever upward…

He probably should have stopped her sooner, wasn’t sure he could give her what she clearly wanted. But she was so beautiful, and her appearance had been a welcome distraction from the thoughts of the coming battle that had been running through his mind the entire night. Not to mention, listening to her confident, unique way of speaking was nice, and the way she laughed made his stomach... _glow_.

Everything else about her left the rest of his body almost uncomfortably warm, his cock pleasantly tingling and shifting in his smalls. Even though those feelings had not quite gone away since she disappeared, it was disappointing to think they soon would be.

He started to wish he hadn’t let her go.

“What are you doing, James?” Bull asked.

“Nothing.”

Bull let out a long breath. “Obviously. But why?”

James wasn’t sure. He was attracted to Abner, but in his experience, it didn’t always end well when he slept with someone he didn’t know.

“I don’t know… I’m just not ready to deal with someone’s feelings I guess.”

“She doesn’t want _feelings_. That much is obvious,” Bull rumbled. “Go have fun, James. She’s right, you know, you might not make it past the next few days. If you don’t want to be alone tonight, don’t be alone.”

James looked back toward where she had disappeared. Bull was right, of course. Abner didn’t seem like she was looking for anything beyond one night, and if James was honest with himself… he _didn’t_ want to be alone.

He should go.

So, James stood and left Bull behind, ignoring the low chuckle that emanated from the giant Qunari. He hurried through the camp until he saw the telltale dreads and short stature of the intriguing woman. “Hey!” he called after her. “Abner!”

The woman stopped and turned toward him, smiling while she placed a hand on a cocked hip. “Change yer mind, handsome?”

James grinned, allowing his eyes to travel down her body - slender, but packed with muscle. His hands itched to touch her, now that he had committed himself. And those full, grinning lips were begging to be kissed. “It’s hard to turn down a beautiful woman.”

Abner laughed and reached to take his hand. She wove them through the fires and tents scattered in the forest clearing, heading toward the edge of the encampment. He usually stayed toward the middle when he was not on patrol, but he liked that she seemed to be further toward the outskirts. He would feel a little more… comfortable... if they were somewhat away from the main crowds.

His heart was racing, thinking of what she was leading him to. Her calloused grip was so warm and firm, and he felt himself looking down at the curve of her ass every few steps. Bull had encouraged him to have fun, and James wanted to… But he was nervous. Abner obviously knew what she wanted, and while her confidence was enticing, he was afraid she would find him disappointing.

His anxiety increased when Abner led him past the last row of tents and entered the thicker stand of trees beyond the camp. Confused, he followed her for a few more feet, carefully stepping over the roots highlighted by the flickers of moonlight that made it to the ground. “Umm, is your tent back here..?” he asked.

Abner laughed, flashing her dark eyes toward his. “I don’t have a tent.”

James frowned. “Really? Where do you sleep?”

She glanced back over her shoulder and grinned. “Not trapped in some canvas box, that’s for sure.”

James looked back at the giant elms and ancient oaks growing ever thicker around them. He had spent enough time wandering through this very forest to know the dangers it contained, most of them entirely unrelated to red Templars. But before he could really consider what creatures she might encounter on her own, Abner released his hand and turned to face him, backing up with a smirk until she was pressed against the trunk of a mid-sized elm. She crossed her arms and stared at him, her eyes glinting in the moonlight filtering through the trees as they swept over his body.

James stood a little straighter under her gaze. He wasn’t entirely sure how to proceed, so he took a moment to just admire her. She was so much more forward than any other woman he could remember meeting, and looked like no other either. It was impossible not to notice her with her long hair coiled into dreadlocks, the ring through her nose, and the tattoos circling her powerful arms and streaking across her face. And with her strange accent, it was clear she was not from Ferelden. He couldn’t quite believe she had picked him out from the droves of Inquisition forces back in the camp, but he was glad she had. She was so incredibly beautiful, and having her here in front of him, leaning casually against the tree with her hip cocked out, was sending blood flowing south

She was clearly waiting for him to do something, so James decided to talk, hoping his nerves would disappear once he knew something about her. “So… what do you do for the Inquisition?”

Abner raised an eyebrow, though her smirk did not disappear. “Seriously? You want to talk about work?”

James cleared his throat, feeling foolish. “No.” Talking hadn’t exactly helped him get this far.

He may still fuck this up.

Abner lifted a hand and beckoned him closer with a single finger. “Come here,” she said softly. James took a deep breath and stepped forward, smiling. At least she seemed somewhat forgiving of his fumbles, and he was grateful for it. Abner tilted her chin as he approached, exposing the line of her neck. James reached for her arm, running his fingers gently over the smooth, warm skin. He leaned closer, heart racing, watching her lips as they curved up in a smile, the moonlight giving her skin a cool glow. He ran his hand over her shoulder to grip lightly at her neck, bending even further down, reaching for her lips.

Abner leaned with him, still smirking, and James could feel the warm brush of her breath on his lips. His entire body was flushed, and his cock was starting to ache. He grabbed her waist with his other hand, pulling her closer, eyes fixed on hers as their lips met…

And then Abner’s were gone.

James fell forward slightly as she ducked out of his hold and slipped away, skipping around the tree and deeper into the forest with a laugh. Confused, James followed her, tripping over a root. “Abner!” he called in a loud whisper, stumbling forward a few more feet.

She laughed again and ran further away, quickly melting into the shadows of the forest. “You can do better than that!”

For one moment James hesitated, his heart racing. He obviously hadn’t done what she wanted. Again. He was at a loss. Again. If she had just let him kiss her, he was sure some of this anxiety would disappear. He may not be the best at flirting, but he knew he could kiss a woman...

He heard more of her laughter, further away this time, and he started to run. She was playing with him, and he had to admit that he enjoyed this part of her nature. Afterall, he _had_ said he wanted fun. He also wasn’t about to let her run off into the forest alone.

James knew he could catch her with his longer legs. In his pursuit, he focused his eyes downward, so that he could jump over roots and avoid random dips in the ground. He followed the sound of her laughing and the rustling of leaves, catching glimpses of her shadowed figure flitting through the trees. As he gained on her, he found himself relaxing, heart racing with excitement instead of anxiety. “I can run faster than you!” he called when he had closed the distance to a few meters. “And for longer!”

She laughed loudly, a sound James was growing to love, and then went silent. She slipped behind an oak and didn’t reappear, and when James reached the tree, he found no one. He slowed to a jog and entered a small clearing, coming to a stop when he realized he had lost her.

“Abner?” he called again.

There was no answer

 _Great… she ditched me._ James placed his hands on his hips and surveyed the little break in the woods as he quickly caught his breath. She’d led him on this chase, leaving him turned on and alone, with nothing but the memory of a small brush of lips and the curve of her waist under his hand.

_She must have gotten bored._

But then he noticed the little camp set up in the center of the clearing, with stones ringing a cold fire pit and a bundle of what looked like furs.

Before he could consider the set-up, he felt something grab at his ass, squeezing the right cheek almost painfully. He jumped and turned, swinging his arm out to strike whoever had attacked him in reaction. But whoever it was ducked easily beneath the limb, and he realized immediately it was Abner when her snickering pierced the night air.

James let out his own relieved laugh. “Fuck, I thought you’d left.”

Abner was beaming. She backed away slowly, her hips swaying seductively with each step. She met his gaze and raised an eyebrow, bringing her hands to the ties holding her tunic together, pulling on the laces and exposing the line of her cleavage. He watched her hungrily, breath racing from the run and the sight of her exposing her body, realizing as the tunic fell open, that she was not wearing a breast band.

He was done hesitating. She was beautiful and sexy and he wanted to fucking kiss her properly.

He stepped forward to take her in his arms and do just that, and maybe find out what those enticingly exposed breasts would feel like in his hands...

But Abner stepped back lithely, avoiding his embrace once more. She grinned, none of the seduction leaving her gaze. “Funny you’ve never been wounded, moving that slow,” she teased.

James narrowed his eyes. She wasn’t done playing. “I can move faster if I want.”

She chuckled and swept her eyes down the length of his body. “With a body that big? Nah.” She backed up some more, surefooted and nimble, suppressing more laughter. “I bet you’ve got some great _stamina_ , but warriors built like you aren’t fast.”

James’s body tensed with the urge to show her she was wrong. He knew he was big, but he was proud of how quick he was on the battlefield. “I’m not like other warriors,” he told her. “I have both.”

Abner raised her eyebrows and lifted her chin. “Prove it.”

James charged, hoping to catch her off guard. But Abner easily dodged his lunge, slipping under his arms and ending up behind him. She slapped his ass before skipping a few feet away. “What I tell ya? Slow,” she taunted.

James stalked toward her and readied his stance, flashes of the hours spent in the training ring running through his mind. He had bested Bull on multiple occasions. He wouldn’t let this tiny woman get the best of him now…

He lunged and Abner dodged, her laughter filling the clearing. James tried again, and when she slipped around and grabbed at his backside a third time, he laughed. “Got a thing for asses?” he asked.

She jumped over the bundle of furs and James followed. “You don’t?”

James smiled, and during his next assault managed to get his own hand on the curve of her backside. “What do you think?” he responded. She laughed and twirled away.

When his next assault had him finally pulling her into his arms, James knew he was getting closer, learning some of her moves. But she wiggled away and skipped toward the clearing edge.

Despite their sparring, James felt himself relaxing. He had found his words, and he was ready to end these games. He wanted more than these small touches on her body, and the earlier brush of her lips was far from enough.

Finally, he cornered her against the trunk of a giant, ancient elm at the edge of the clearing. Tangled roots protruded from the earth on either side, making an escape into the forest difficult. James watched as Abner crouched slightly, and saw the shift of her body as she prepared to dodge.

That time he was fast enough, and managed to wrap an arm firmly around her waist before she could escape. He picked her up and pressed her against the tree, one arm gripping her waist and the other braced against the tree. She wrapped her legs around him, and he could feel how heavily she was breathing as her chest expanded against his. She smiled, her dark eyes burning into his. “Ok, maybe yer pretty quick after all… _for a warrior.”_

With a grunt James lifted her even further and finally pressed his lips fully against hers. She moaned and buried her hands in his hair, encouraging him closer. James moved one hand to cup her ass, squeezing the taut flesh in his palm. He slipped the other under the linen that hung loose and open from her shoulders, caressing one of her breasts. It was better than he had imagined, and he took a moment to appreciate how the full, soft flesh filled his hand. Her nipple was a hard peak against his palm, and he pressed his hand more firmly into her breast, drawing a moan from her throat.

He wanted to take that pearl in his mouth, and suck until she was begging him for more.

Abner writhed against him, hips grinding against his while she kissed him fiercely, biting at his lips and using her tongue to tangle with his. James matched the intensity of her embrace, lips swelling and face growing numb as their kiss passed from one moment to the next.

His cock began to harden, aching and pressing against his smalls and breeches, eager to be free and buried inside of her. He rutted against her center, drawing moans from both of them, heat building between their bodies. James groaned when she moved her lips from his and trailed hot, wet kisses along his jaw and to his ear, ending on his neck where she nibbled at the skin over his pulse. James kneaded his fingers into her body, mind going hazy as she worked at the sensitive point on his neck.

“Shit, Abner,” he gasped, hips still rocking against hers. This is what he’d wanted, what he’d followed her into the forest for…

Abner nipped at his neck, drawing a strangled gasp from him, then licked the bruised spot before working back to his lips with breathy laughs. She met his gaze and grinned wickedly, her tongue flicking over her top lip. She squeezed her thighs, pressing her center more firmly against his aching cock. “Now let’s see about that stamina.”

__

As soon as the words tumbled from her lips, a spark ignited in his eyes. James was no longer the serious man at camp with a far-off stare. He was now so emboldened with passion that he lunged forward to kiss her again, even more fervently than before.

He was ravenous and she liked it.

Abner gripped at the hard muscles teasing her below his tunic and dug her nails into the fabric. Moans rumbled between them through hot breaths, their swollen mouths chaotically caressing everywhere they could reach. Pressed firmly against the elm, the sheer strength of his body and his hardened cock grinding between her legs made her ache.

She needed to _feel_ it.

She demonstrated her own power to him by using the support of the tree and the force of her thighs to push him back half a step. He broke the connection his lips had with her now slippery neck to look at her with a flash of concern. With her seductive gaze locked on his, she made a show of licking her palm and then sliding it down beneath his trousers. Grabbing his cock in her hand, she smiled and worked her agile fingers along his shaft. James jerked a little, a sharp inhale hissing between his teeth. He stared at her, clearly dazed by the feeling of her wet hand on him. Moonlight drifted through the rustling leaves and made shadows dance over his skin.

Enjoying the view, the feel of him hot in her hand, and the influence she had over him, Abner pulled her lower lip between her teeth provocatively. She guided James back against her by contracting her legs, urging his soft, full lips back to hers with a tug on his neck. He came to her willingly, and started to rhythmically rock their bodies together, moving them in lustful tandem, the bark of the tree scratching through the thin fabric of her tunic. She worked her hand diligently between them, rubbing along his length and angling him to press against the ache between her legs. The sensations caused them both to gasp and moan into each other’s mouths. His lips left hers to travel wet-hot trails back down her throat, making prickles of fire burst through her entire body. She could barely take it anymore, she needed to have him.

All of him.

Her hand shifted to tug at the waistline of his breeches and she cursed breathlessly in his ear, “Oh, fuck. James.” She tugged again at the waistband. In response, he rolled his hips forward with eager force, dragging the length of his cock over the thin leather of her leggings, running along her clit and causing her breath to hitch. She cried out into the night air when he did it again. Desperate for more, she swung her arm around him, fisting the fabric covering his backside between her fingers as if she could tear them from his body, and moaned,“Take these _off_.”

A low, throaty chuckle resonated within him. James smiled into her neck before gently setting her down. She immediately worked open the ties of his breeches while he pulled off his tunic in one fluid motion. He pulled hers off next, grazing his rough palms against her breasts as they passed. He leaned down to kiss her ardently, tossing her tunic to the side. She moved to the ties holding up her leggings as he took a couple steps back so they could kick off their boots. They stepped out of breeches and smalls, grinning at each other, and took a moment to view their raw forms in the moonlight.

Abner allowed her eyes to drag leisurely along the contours of his body. His muscles were remarkable, covered with unmarred skin and just the right amount of soft, black hair. She grinned proudly to herself. “Andraste’s ass, James,” she sighed while meeting his gaze again. “You are a _proper_ man.”

He smiled back at her, dipping his eyes down to follow the curves her body. She loved the feeling of his searing, hungered stare as it traveled every inch of her. He shook his head, “And you’re…” he sighed, captivated by her, “fucking, _beautiful_.”

She felt like she glittered when he looked at her like that. She smiled, and for a moment, almost felt shy. His response to her naked body made her feel precious, like he treasured her even though they were essentially strangers. He knew nothing about her - only that they both fought for the Inquisition - yet he looked at her so graciously. He was truly endearing, and she started to realize she wasn’t used to encountering men as sweet as James.

Abner stretched out her hand to his, pulling him closer to her again. He bent down to kiss her so tenderly that her heart fluttered. His hands roamed her body with a touch as soft as flower petals while they kissed, fingers delicately exploring the curves of her lithe frame.

However, the journey his hands made around her body spurred a primal ferocity. One wandering palm stopped to eagerly enjoy her breast, while the other grabbed her ass. His attentions caused her to release a sigh against his lips. She loved the way his large, rough hands felt on her body.

She really, _really_ needed to feel more of this man. Slipping her mouth past his to dot kisses along his short, dark beard, she left a tail of passion to his ear. She trapped the lobe in her teeth, tugging gently, before she whispered, “Fuck me, James...Please.” It came out as almost a whine, a plea for him to fill her.

Her request caused a grunt from deep within him as the hand cupping her ass was joined by the other in an effort to lift her against him. He moved as if to pin her against the elm once more, but she gracefully swung her body around instead, the callouses on his hands grazing her skin. He gripped her ever so lightly, as if he feared she would run away again. The thought made her smile with satisfaction, but she had no intention of leaving his side again...

The ground below the tree had a steep enough incline that, while on the tips of her toes, Abner was able to brace herself on the trunk and lift her ass high in the air. She pressed backward against him, almost reaching the height of his cock. She wiggled her ass - an invitation - and felt the base of him twitch against the top of her backside.

She felt him hesitate, or perhaps just enjoy the view, before bending slightly at the knee. The tip of his cock teased her opening as he situated himself behind her. His delay drove her to press back against him, causing the head to slide in. A deep rumble thundered in his chest as he grabbed her hips and eased more of himself into her. They both gasped and moaned at the feeling of her wet cunt stretching around him.

Abner couldn’t help the soft, high-pitched sounds that fluttered through her short breaths as he slowly pressed himself inside of her. While she had enticed this man to take her in the wilderness - _to fuck her from behind and against a tree_ \- he still managed to make it feel beautiful. Her heart pounded in her chest with a weight that was new. She rested her forehead against one of her bracing arms and closed her eyes, focused on the silky sensations of him.

He felt fucking amazing.

As he started with slow thrusts, working deeper with each pass, Abner inhaled sharply and felt herself tighten around him. He pulled himself back out of her, and she whined softly - the feeling of wet skin and the emptiness it left behind, sweet agony. The tangibility of their connection made everything hotter, and gradually, they increased their speed. Abner pushed back when James thrust in, and bounced forward when he pulled out. Every time he breathed heavier and gripped her hips tighter, to the point where she knew he’d leave bruises in her flesh. And every time, her sighs grew louder and her fingernails dug deeper into the bark.

Craning her neck back, and with a smile across her parted, panting lips, she looked at him over her shoulder. His eyes moved from her ass to lock onto her gaze. His intense stare had returned, but this time for something gratifying and fun. His cheeks were flushed, and their rhythm increased while their eyes seared into each other.  

She moved one hand from the elm to reach for his, arching her back and pulling him forward. James bent down to kiss her, leaning over her. Though unable to pull out as far as before, he could slam into her deeper, leaving Abner aching even more. As he kissed her, she brought his hand to her neck, guiding his fingers to her throat. She pressed his fingers gently into her flesh, and pulled her lips from his. She held his stare to convey that this was what she wanted, before releasing him to brace the tree again.

He kept gripping her throat and their cries grew louder until they echoed through the wilds. As Abner came closer to the edge, her arms began to give way, and James’s thrusts grew more erratic. Her elbows bent and his force pushed her forward until the crown of her head settled against the tree between her hands. She called out to the gods in the foreign tongue she knew he wouldn’t recognize, and came as if a lightning strike had set the ancient elm ablaze. Sparks flew and ignited a forest fire within her, leaving her glowing, shaking, and deeply satisfied. The two strong hands clutching her body were the only things keeping her from falling to the forest floor.

Abner felt James follow quickly behind her, calling out words in a language she’d never heard before, and he released her throat to grip her hips again. Grinning and panting as she felt him come undone inside her, she realized that James had his own mysteries, and was even more pleased that he followed her into the woods that night.

__

James shuddered, pumping his hips a few more times to draw what remaining pleasure he could from his orgasm. Abner was trembling slightly, her skin damp with sweat, and he could hear her gasping as she caught her breath. He kneaded her hips gently and took several deep breaths, his head slowly clearing. She was still deliciously tight around his softening cock, and he was reluctant to pull away. Out of all of his fantasies, he had not expected to fuck Abner from behind. Against a tree.

But it was exactly what he had needed. Thoughts of the coming battle were entirely expelled from his mind.

Abner shifted and started to stand. Afraid she was growing uncomfortable, he finally extracted himself from her body, helping to steady her as they both straightened. “Was it alright to… come inside?” he asked her, worried that he had overstepped.

She chuckled and turned around, tilting her head back to meet his gaze. “Don’t worry, yer good.” She took a deep breath and looked down to his chest with smirk, reaching out to run her hand over the ridges of his stomach. “Very good.”

James laughed. He knew much of his strength was an effect of his unique abilities, but he was proud of it nonetheless, and it was nice to have someone appreciating his power beyond how he used it to kill. He leaned down to kiss her, smiling when she eagerly parted her lips to receive him. She was an amazing kisser, and he hoped that this would not be their last one.

Abner pulled away after a moment and lowered herself to pick up their clothes. James reached for his boots, and was going to ask what she wanted to do next when she took his hand and led him toward the center of the clearing. Dew soaked his bare feet, and he felt a little exposed walking naked through the woods. However, Abner was just as confident as ever, so James refrained from covering himself as he sat on the furs arranged next to the fire pit. Abner knelt by the cold ashes, quickly working to light a pile of kindling. He took a moment to admire the sight of her ass as she bent over the fire, then glanced around the clearing. He could hear the distant sounds of camp through the trees, and for a moment, James worried they might be discovered by a wandering soldier. But when he looked back at Abner, he found that she had changed positions, and he had an unhindered view of her breasts.

Suddenly, he no longer cared...

She had an incredible body, and her strength was obvious as the moonlight played across the contours of her muscles. He wanted to touch her again, but resisted the urge to do so while she worked.

“So, this is where you sleep,” he said instead, though he continued to watch the way her breasts swayed slightly as she struck flint over the kindling.

She glanced toward him and grinned. “Yeah.”

He looked back toward the forest, thinking of what the darkness could contain. “Is it safe out here for you?”

She chuckled, and flames sprang to life, sending warm, flickering light playing over the curves of her body. With the fire established Abner crawled toward him and pushed him down, snuggling herself against his side. “Aw, are you worried about me?” she asked.

“I mean, a little.”

Abner patted his chest. “Don’t worry, we’re still in the watch perimeter. And I have these,” she added, sitting up and lifting the corner of her furs. James propped himself on an elbow and looked, finding a pair of knives nestled in the grass below the bedding. She covered the blades and urged him back down, returning her hand to his chest. She gently flitted her fingers through his chest hair, sending slow sparks through his body.

“Why here?” he asked.

“I like my space.”

James wanted to press further, but decided against it. Abner was clearly capable, whatever she did for the Inquisition, and he had to admit that it was nice to see the stars through the gap in the branches overhead. He watched them shimmering for a moment, listening to the distant camp and the soft chirps of some strange insect a few feet away. It was the most peaceful the forest had felt since he arrived. He glanced back at Abner and found her own eyes fixed on the heavens, a smile turning up the corners of her lips.

His body flushed with warmth, and his heart fluttered. He didn’t want to deal with feelings that night, but he couldn’t help but feel attached to Abner, even after their relatively brief encounter. Yes, she was beautiful, and frankly the sexiest women he had ever been with, but it was more than that. She was fun, and despite his initial awkwardness, James no longer felt intimidated by her. Maybe if they had met months before, this could have been something more…

James looked back at the stars and took a deep breath. The problem with casual encounters was always him, never his partner’s. He didn’t know exactly what he wanted, so he thought avoiding feelings would make it alright to spend the night with a stranger. But he found it difficult to sleep with someone without them.

Abner’s hand had been wandering over his chest and stomach, playing with the hair dusting his body and tracing the lines of his muscles. She sat up after exploring every surface and frowned, her eyes roving over his body. “You don’t have a single scar.”

James glanced down himself. It was hard to get scars when he healed almost instantly. “Yeah, I guess I don’t.”

She looked into his eyes and raised an eyebrow. “And how have you managed that, oh great and powerful warrior?”

James shrugged. “Magic,” he evaded.

Abner laughed, and the sound was so beautiful, her smile so relaxed, that James had to kiss her. He reached for her neck and pulled her lips to his, kissing her gently. He rolled to his side and ran his hand over her body, following the curving line from her ass to her breasts, teasing the dip of her waist along the way until she squirmed.

He released her lips and kissed his way down her neck, licking at the dip in her clavicle before continuing downward. He gripped one of her breasts with his hand, and took the other in his mouth.

He sucked on her pearled nipple, tugging lightly with his lips, then more aggressively with teeth when Abner moaned. She buried her hands in his hair and pulled him closer, encouraging him to suck harder, and take more of the soft mound of flesh into his mouth.

Abner threw her leg over his body and rolled her hips against his stomach. James felt himself start to grow hard, pleasure shooting from his cock as Abner moved her body against him. He dragged his tongue over her nipple, then trailed his mouth back to hers with searing kisses. She tugged hungrily on his bottom lip, grinding her hips over his cock. James moaned and slid his hand down to her ass, pulling her more firmly against his aching length.

She smiled into their kiss, and he rolled to his back as Abner moved to straddle his waist. “You know,” she murmured as she centered herself above his cock and slowly rolled herself against him. “I’m not sure you’ve quite proven this stamina of yours…”

James grinned and sat up, satisfied at the small gasp that Abner let out as he flipped their positions. He pressed her into the furs and rolled his hips against hers, dragging his cock along her wet heat. Abner sighed, and wrapped her legs tightly around his body. “The first time wasn’t enough for you?” he asked her quietly, desperately wanting to sink himself into her cunt once more. It certainly hadn’t been enough for him.

Her powerful legs clenched and brought him closer, and his cock twitched as she pressed herself against him. “It clearly wasn’t enough for _you_ ,” she murmured seductively.

Without hesitating, James positioned himself at her entrance and slid almost entirely into her with a grunt. He braced himself over her body with one arm, and gripped at her ass with the other, angling her up so he could work deeper into her tightness with a few more thrusts. He watched Abner’s face as he filled her, her moans falling past parted lips and mingling with his own. She closed her eyes and gripped at his back, digging her fingernails into his skin.

She felt so good clenched hot around him, and he needed more.

James bent enough so he could capture her lips with his own, excitement building in his body as he began to drive himself into her, panting into their kiss as pressure built in his core. He pressed her into the furs, pleasure shooting through his body as she groaned.

“More,” she gasped after a moment, and she buried one of her hands in his hair. “Fuck, James. _More_!”

She was exquisite, and James wanted her to feel every ounce of pleasure he could draw from her body. He paused his thrusting for one moment so he could hook his arms under her knees and pin them toward her shoulders, leaving her entirely at his mercy. He pumped his cock even more fervently into her entrance, sliding easily along her soaking walls as she clenched around him. Abner moaned, then cried out with pleasure as he sheathed his entire length inside of her. James buried his nose into the crook of her neck, breathing in her scent as his body roiled with pleasure.

He felt himself approaching his climax, but grit his teeth as he attempted to keep himself from coming. After another moment Abner’s voice became hoarse and breathless, and James reveled in the feel of her slick skin sliding against his. They moved so well together, he didn’t want it to end…

Abner came with a cry, her walls clenching even tighter around his cock. She arched off the furs and pressed even firmer against him, leaving stinging scratches down his back that immediately disappeared. James groaned, head hazy from the sound of her pleasure, and bunched the furs under his hands. He bent her legs back even further and thrust deeper into her cunt, the movement of his hips growing erratic as he let his restraint go. Every muscle in his body grew tight, and he came with an explosion of pleasure, pumping through his climax while moaning her name.

He collapsed when he finished, though he was careful to keep most of his weight from crushing Abner against the ground. For a moment he just breathed, nose filled with the scent of her. He relished the feel of her wrapped slick and hot around his cock, and the heat of her body pressed under his.

But he knew it had to end, so James carefully rose to his knees and released Abner’s legs, drawing his cock from her body with a sigh. Her chest was heaving, and she had yet to open her eyes, though a small grin pulled up the corners of her mouth.

She was beautiful, and James was filled with a deep satisfaction that he was the reason she looked so utterly spent.

He settled himself carefully at her side and placed his hand gently on her stomach, caressing her slowly as she continued to catch her breath. A moment later, Abner turned her head in his direction and opened one of her eyes.

__

Abner’s head was still spinning as she looked at him, staring into the bright green rings around blown pupils. She couldn’t help the skip her heart made when he smiled at her and tenderly brushed a few coiled dreads away from her face. This was all more than she had expected, more than she had asked for.

_Way more._

“So… did I prove my stamina?” he asked, a playful glimmer in his eyes.

“Sufficiently.” She winked, a sly grin pinching her cheeks.

“You know, I always heard rogues were known for their… _agility_.”

A breathy laugh puffed through her nose. _Cheeky little…_ “And was I dexterous enough for you?”

He was practically preening. “Sufficiently.”  

Abner let out a robust, hearty laugh and pushed him to lay flat on his back. She sat up to gather furs for the early morning chill that was sure to come, and then layed down again, nestling her head into the comfortable nook where his chest met his shoulder. The stress over tomorrow’s assault was a distant memory as her fingertips swirled patterns on his chest, and she listened to the sleepy sounds of deep forest night. He let out a small sigh, tenderly wrapping his arms around her body.

The intensity of their evening faded into contentment, and she felt him drifting off to sleep. Her stomach flipped and jittered while she listened to James breathe, and felt his warm body against hers. He was more than she had expected. And there were curiosities about this man that she wanted to unravel. She had a feeling there was more of him to discover.

This was just supposed to be a quick exercise in relaxation - which it was - but it was so much more.

 _Way more_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like James and Abner? Want more? Let us know in the comments, because we might be persuaded to write more with these two (aka we really kinda wanna write more sexy times with these nerds).
> 
> Otherwise, please check out their canon homes in [long_LIV_praries's](http://archiveofourown.org/users/long_LIV_prairies/pseuds/long_LIV_prairies) fic, “[Neither Angels, Nor Demons, Nor Powers](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3858271/chapters/8616355)” for more James, and [LadyDracarys](http://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyDracarys/works)' fic, “[In Love, Serenity](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8841850/chapters/20275030)” for more Abner!
> 
> *update* We have decided to make this a full-fledged fic! Stay tuned for more chapters on the alternate universe story of Abner and James!
> 
> Wanna talk to us directly? Hang out on Tumblr? Find us there as @long-liv-prairies and @ladydracarysao3 -- Thanks for reading!


	2. One More Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the battle in the Arbor Wilds, James spots a familiar face during the march back to Skyhold.

 

 

James hated marching.

Long days of nothing but walking wore on his nerves, and it didn’t take long for him to get bored. He appreciated the places they passed through, the beautiful landscapes Thedas had to offer, but he was far less appreciative that he had to _walk_ through it all.

It wasn’t that he got tired or sore. He would hate it even more if he did. His ability to heal kept his body from aching during a long day’s march - the one good thing about having travelled through the Fade. He’d lost so much when he was brought to Thedas, at least he’d gained the ability to heal almost instantly in the process.

No, it was the fact that he _wasn’t_ from Thedas that made walking everywhere that much more tedious. He was from a world where driving and flying was the norm, where one could travel around the planet in a couple days. Walking across a continent was a choice, even recreation, but not a necessity.

James had stopped missing many things about Earth long ago, but efficient modes of transportation was not one of them.

Usually, he liked talking with a friend or two while marching to make the time pass faster. But James had been separated from many of his normal acquaintances when Commander Cullen split the army back in the Arbor Wilds. James was to return with a smaller force to Skyhold, while the rest of the army stayed behind to clean out  the remaining red Templars.

However, James knew the Chargers were at least heading back to Skyhold, so when midday came and he could no longer stand being alone, James started wandering the column, searching for Bull’s telltale horns.

When he found the giant Qunari, he changed his course, and with longer strides, James quickly caught up to the mercenary company. Sweeping his eyes over the group, he looked for Krem, or Rocky…

But found Abner instead.

James’s breath caught in his throat and he slowed his pace. Abner was the last person he had expected to find. He watched the short woman as she walked next to Skinner, her dreads piled high into a bun on top of her head, and her ass still wrapped in tight black leather. He found himself staring at her backside, swinging as she moved. He thought it had to be intentional, that enticing way she walked.

He couldn’t believe he was seeing her again. James had been with the Inquisition for nearly two years, but never met this woman. And now, he’d found her for a second time in under a week. _Incredible_.

He was relieved to see her, and more than a little excited. The battle had been intense, and he had witnessed more than one person he knew fall to red Templar blades. But Abner was here and appeared completely unharmed. James smiled a little when he saw her bump shoulders with Skinner and laugh at something the elf said, the beautiful sound drifting back to his ears.

God, it felt good to hear that laugh again. He wanted to hear more.

He needed to get closer, hear her laugh at him, or at something he said. He wanted to know how she had been, how she had fared during the battle. He wanted to see her smile. She had such a wonderful smile.

And if he was honest… seeing her there made him feel things. He remembered their night together, the fun they’d had. She’d made him feel so at ease - which was no easy feat. He really wanted to kiss her again, and… well, more… if she was willing. He decided that if he were to have her again… he should do it right. Get to know her better. Learn more about her.

He was nervous, so before he could change his mind, James increased the pace of his strides, gaining on Abner and her friend. Talking to her before had had such an effect on him, he just hoped this time he wouldn’t get so tongue-tied.

He approached from the side, and when he was only a few feet away, called out, “Hey, Abner!”

She turned toward his voice and smiled, her stunning, dark eyes lighting up at the sight of him. A fact that made his stomach flip… and she was almost more beautiful than he remembered. “Hey, stranger,” she responded, her eyes sweeping once over his body before returning to his face. Heat pooled in his gut as she looked at him. _I’m so glad I found her..._

Skinner scoffed, softly muttering, “More shems,” under her breath, before she walked away, joining Rocky several paces beyond, and leaving James and Abner relatively alone.

Abner shook her head slightly. “Don’t mind Skinner… She hates everybody.”

James grinned. Of course he didn’t mind. For once, he was grateful for Skinner’s distaste in company. Now he had Abner to himself. “Yeah, I know her… kind of. I know Bull and some of the other Chargers better,” he said.

Abner raised one eyebrow, then looked ahead. “Oh. Odd I’ve never seen you around before… but I’m rarely at Skyhold…” she mused, skipping over a rock in her path.

“Yeah, me neither,” James offered. It would explain why they had never encountered each other. They walked for a moment in silence, and James found himself glancing down, catching a glimpse of Abner’s cleavage through the top of her tunic, her breasts pushed higher by an armoured vest harnessed around her waist. Memories of her naked body flashed in his mind. Memories of her underneath him...

He looked away with a blush. He shouldn’t be leering just because they’d had sex, she deserved better than that. He’d walked over here to get to know her, not ogle her body.

“So, what do you do for the Inquisition?” he asked, hoping she would answer this time.

“I kill things,” Abner said casually. Then she glanced up at him with a smirk. “I bet you do, too.”

James laughed. Of course they killed things… “Yeah, I help clear out whatever assholes have decided to terrorize the countryside.”

Abner snorted. “With those big muscles? Yeah, I bet you come in handy.” She rolled her shoulders back, exposing her chest a little more. James couldn’t help but look. “And yer not just a mountain… yer a _fast_ mountain.” She nudged him with her elbow while she spoke, digging into his waist, and pulling his eyes away from her chest.

James grinned in response. _If she only knew how useful I actually am_ , he thought, but Abner didn’t need to know that he healed almost instantly after injuries. Revealing that would just lead to questions he didn’t want to answer.

Abner sighed. “Let’s just say I know the Nightingale, yeah?”

 _That_ piqued James’s interest. More mystery and evasion. Honestly, it made her even sexier. He itched to ask more, learn more details about this intriguing woman, but he resisted. Leliana’s agents were renowned, and regarded with no small amount of fear. That little tidbit of information was enough to confirm some of his suspicions about Abner’s abilities and her role with the Inquisition. He didn’t _need_ to press her further. Besides, he had his own secrets to keep.

So instead, he shrugged. “Fine with me. I know Leliana likes her secrets.”

Abner smiled and bit at her bottom lip. _God, she’s sexy..._ “Good. It’d be a real shame to have to kill ya.”

James chuckled. With her flirtatious nature reassuring him, he attempted to flirt back. He smirked, chin held high while peering at her through the corner of his eye. “You could try,” he taunted.

She laughed, eyes sparkling in the light dappling through the trees. She wasn’t just sexy… she was the most gorgeous woman he had ever met. James was growing unfocused with their conversation, distracted by her beautiful laughter and remembering how her dark eyes looked shining with moonlight and hooded with lust.

“I could…” she mused, “but you probably wouldn’t like it. I’m really _good_ at killing things.” She made a show of inspecting every inch of his height. “Especially _big_ things.”

Her look sent a flush through James’s body, blood rushing everywhere. She was so seductive, and God, those eyes could do things to him. Wicked things. She was addictive, and he decided he wanted her again. Once was not enough. He wondered how he should approach her, and if she wanted him too. Granted, they had both assumed their night in the woods was their _only_ night together… but at the time, he’d thought he’d never see her again. What were the chances? And now, here she was… walking right beside him, her presence driving him crazy... James didn’t see why they had to limit themselves to just one fling...

“Well you must be,” James said, smiling back at her beautiful, smug face. “You came out of that battle in one piece.” She shrugged as if it didn’t matter, as if it was a small thing to survive. “Which I’m happy about, by the way,” he added, feeling that she needed to know he wasn’t interested in her for _just_ sex. He genuinely liked her. It was what had made their night together so amazing. She was so carefree, so full of life, even in this dark and dangerous place. He was drawn to it… to her. She had provided him a light when he was mired in the dark thoughts of violence and death, as no other he had met in Thedas had been able to do. He wanted her to know that she was… more.

But when Abner glanced up at his words, there was a slight frown on her face. He would have missed it if he hadn't already been gazing at her, because as if trying to hide it, she quickly exchanged her frown for a grin. “Are you?” she said amusedly and leaned over to knock her shoulder against him. “Charmer.”

James frowned at that. He wasn’t… _just_ trying to charm her. Of course, he hoped she liked him… hoped she wanted him as much as he wanted her... but he needed her to know he respected her, too… that he cared...

“I’m not trying to… Listen, I _figured_ you could fight, but that was… a really crazy battle. There were a couple times... you know... I wondered where you were and hoped you were alright.” He rubbed the back of his neck, a little flustered by her reaction. This wasn’t going the way he’d hoped.

She rolled her shoulders, and seriousness washed over her face. “I’ve lived through worse.”

James sighed, wondering why she had become so distant all of a sudden, so hardened. Where had he gone wrong… trying to tell her he was glad she was alive? That didn’t make sense. Then again, he supposed he didn’t know what he’d expected. He barely knew her. “Well… I’m still glad.”

Her only response was a brief and small smile, which caused them to lapse back into silence. James watched her as they walked, trying to decide what to do, if he could salvage this. She was being pleasant enough, but something had definitely gone off. Was she interested in him or not?

He wouldn’t know until he asked.

So he went for it.

“I… really enjoyed meeting you the other night,” he said quietly, lowering his voice so they would not be overheard. “And you know… everything else we did.”

She finally looked back at him with that smirk of hers, a real one, the kind that made her eyes shine and relief shower over him. “Pre-battle stress relief?”

James smiled back, body growing warm, like the welcoming heat in her eyes. “Yeah, that.”

Abner laughed and the sound filled James with hope. “Yeah… I like to relax before a battle.” She shrugged, looking ahead again. “Not the first time, not the last. No big deal.”

James frowned, that new hope already slipping away. Even if it was just supposed to be one night, for him, it was more than just a way to relax…

After his silence, Abner turned her gaze back to him, and James tried to make his expression neutral. “No need to be gallant,” she told him. “That’s all.”

There was a sinking feeling in his chest. James knew he wasn’t any good at this. This was why he didn’t usually sleep with strangers. He had a hard time being casual about it. He’d slept with Abner not just because she was offering. She drew him in with her eyes, her smile, her laugh… her personality... and all of those things made it hard for him to just walk away. He wondered if no one she’d been with had ever cared about her. Had they never tried to get to know her better? Shown a real interest? Or did she never let them… James had a feeling it was the latter, and he was determined not to give up so easily.

“I’m not being gallant,” he said. His heart was racing but he tried to ignore it. “I’m just thinking… we had a good time, didn’t we?”

She smiled warmly and gave him a quick nod. Promising. He could turn this back around, so he pressed on. “We don’t have to wait for the next battle to… have more fun.”

One more time. At least. One more night and then maybe he could let her go… if that’s what she truly wanted.

Abner laughed and James was emboldened, confident she was open to the possibility. “Oh?” she said, smiling up through her lashes. She walked a little closer. “Is that so?”

She was _definitely_ open.

James smiled, pleased, and when he looked up from her smiling face and saw old elvhen statues scattered in the trees beyond the road, he had an idea.

Abner had taken charge by dragging him into the forest that first night. Maybe if he did the same now, it would remove any doubt that he was worth her time. Prove to her that what they shared was worth more than one night. It could be more…

He grabbed Abner’s hand and pulled her off the road. Guiding her through the trees, he aimed for a large wolf statue that would give them privacy from the column of Inquisition forces marching past. Abner gripped his hand back and skipped along beside him, encouraging James further...

James ducked behind the statue and stopped. Abner slipped her hand from his and swiveled until her back was to the stone. She raised an eyebrow and smirked. “What’s this now?”

James wanted to kiss her. Badly. So… so badly.

He took a deep breath and stepped into her space. Placing his hands on either side of her head, he towered over her. Abner leaned back against the statue, tipping her head up, still smirking. Confident. She held his gaze and said nothing, but fire smoldered in her eyes. And she waited. Waited for him to make his move.

So James moved.

Leaning down to her height, he took her lips with his. He lowered his hands to her hips and pressed her gently against the statue, face buzzing when she opened to him. Her fingers slipped into his hair, sending sparks down James’s spine and heat pooling in his stomach.

She was was intoxicating, like a shot of liquor that sent his head spinning. It felt so good, so satisfying, to have her again like this. He moved his lips with hers, sinking deeper into their kiss, sinking deeper into her.

He needed more.

With a small grunt he cupped Abner by the ass and lifted her against the statue. She wrapped her legs around his waist and slipped her tongue into his mouth, tangling it with his. James moaned softly, fire spreading through his body as Abner began to grind her hips into his body, gasping into his mouth.

More. He needed _more_. He needed her to cry out for him, shudder in his hands, ache and want him as much as he wanted her…

He pulled away from Abner’s lips and brought one hand to his mouth, pulling off his glove with his teeth until it slipped from his hand. He threw it to the ground and moved to play with the waistline of her breeches.

He wasn’t sure if he should proceed. He wanted to touch her, but the unit was still passing by, just a few dozen yards away. They could so easily be discovered…

But Abner was squirming into his touch, biting at her lip. Her eyes glinted as she looked at his, and she gasped softly when he experimentally pushed a finger beneath her clothes…

James leaned down and kissed her again, working his hand fully beneath her pants while his tongue danced with hers. He breathed deeply, her scent warm and earthy, her mouth sweet. He was growing addicted to the feel of her lips against his, didn’t think another’s kiss would ever be so good.

She was wearing nothing under her leathers and James hummed in appreciation when his fingers grazed the curls between her legs unhindered. She moaned, sending gentle vibrations through his own body, and angled her hips more fully toward his hand. James slipped his fingers into her heat, groaning when he found her already slick with want.

He found the swollen nub of her clit and started to rub, gently working circles over the bundle of nerves until Abner started to thrust against his hand. She clutched at his head and started to gasp. James trailed kissed down her jaw to her neck, sucking on her pulse while he ran his fingers along her soaking folds.

“Fuck, Abner,” he moaned, rolling his hips gently against the hand he had slipped into her pants. “So… wet… and hot...”

Abner released the hold she had on his hair with a small groan and worked one of her hands between them, pulling on the front of his breeches. James grabbed the errant hand and pressed it back against the stone, her body only held up by her thighs around his hips and his hand between her legs. He wasn’t about to get caught with his pants literally down…

“You had your fun last time,” he chuckled, kissing up to her ear. He felt Abner shudder as he breathed into the shell. He sank two fingers into her cunt, pumping them gently against her walls, another tremor travelling through her body at the touch.

She clenched around him. “I think…” she gasped, grinding her hips against his hand. “ _You_ were the one having fun.”

James laughed and released her hand, grabbing her ass once more. He kneaded at her firm flesh and worked another finger inside her. His fingers were soaked with her arousal, and he relished every curve and fold of her cunt in his hand, hot and slick, clenching tight around him as he rubbed inside of her.

He kissed his way down to her neck and returned to suckling, his body buzzing and sparking as she moaned and thrust against him. Her hand clutched at his neck and she buried her fingers in his hair, and James breathed in deeply, smelling earth and campfires clinging to her skin. He stretched the leather of her leggings as far as he could so that his thumb could work at her clit, and she cried out. James increased his ministrations, pushing her closer to the edge. “Abner,” he breathed into her neck, nipping slightly at her skin. She _was_ beautiful… so, so beautiful...

“Maker… don’t stop!” she cried, thrusting forcefully into his hand. James sank his fingers into her as far as he could, curling them along her walls. “Fuck,” she moaned. Throwing her head back against the statue, she slipped into her mysterious language, panting and repeating “Ekki hætta. Ekki hætta. Ekki hætta…”

James was hard and rutting against his own hand, his body pulsing with pleasure every time Abner gasped for air and moaned, her breath becoming increasingly more ragged and harsh. He tried to ignore his own response and focus on her, rubbing at her slick heat until she was crying out more in her strange language, clenched tight around his fingers and arching into his body. Her hips thrusts violently against him, but James held her down, continuing to move his fingers inside, his own body thrumming as she came.

After a moment her body relaxed, and she shuddered with aftershocks of pleasure as she gasped to catch her breath. James was reluctant to pull away, but eased his hand out of her sex and from her pants, lowering her to the ground nonetheless. Her eyes were closed, a slightly dazed expression on her beautiful face. James smiled, pleased to see her so spent, and bent down to give her another kiss.

He wanted to do more, to strip her from her clothing, pick her up, and fuck her against the statue properly. But as the haze from pleasuring her cleared, James could once more hear the army marching by. He had already taken a risk by slipping his hand into her pants; he wouldn’t risk being caught with his cock out and inside of her. Even if it was eager to be there.

So he pulled back from her mouth and smiled, bringing his gloved hand to cup her cheek. She blinked open her eyes, and looked at his with a hazy gaze. “Find me later,” he told her softly. He wasn’t sure that marching with her again would be wise. He needed to cool down if he was going to resist taking her in the woods.

And walking away had worked on him. Maybe it would be enough to leave Abner wanting more.

So he bent down to retrieve his glove and walked away, leaving her behind the statue to finish composing herself.

But as he left, James hoped that he hadn’t made a mistake. If she didn’t find him, he would regret not having her right there.

 

\--

When the Inquisition stopped for the night on the land of a small Orlesian farm, Abner wandered the grounds, watching soldiers erect their ridiculous tent city. Eventually, she crossed near the barn and stables of the small homestead, and she slowed her pace. There was something about the smell of hay, dirt, and animals that made Abner come alive - filled with memories of home. While she didn’t have a fondness for her origins, there remained a connection with her senses that manifested as an intense reminder that she could be at peace. _Free_.

When she saw a pretty maiden working with the livestock, she couldn’t help but wander over and say hello.

Abner leaned flirtatiously on the short partition that made up the outer walls of the stables and chatted-up the stable maid. The girl was quite pretty - pale blue eyes, alabaster skin, sunkissed-strawberry blonde hair, and the most enticing curvy figure. She also seemed rather amiable to Abner’s charms, and normally, Abner would jump at the chance to experience her beauty first hand, up close. She’d love to hear the sounds she made when she was being pleasured, to taste her sweetness, to feel her soft body under her hands. However, as she talked to the lovely maid shoveling hay, Abner’s mind kept drifting back to that damned dark-haired warrior.

He’d surprised her that day. She had never seen him before the Arbor Wilds, and she hadn’t expected to see him again after. Really, that was how she preferred it. Yet, when he’d found her, she’d been kind of… delighted.

She’d tried to dissuade him, but that just seemed to spur him on. And taking her behind that statue was the last thing she had expected of him… but _shit,_ she was glad he had. She squirmed a little, remembering his fingers pumping inside of her.

As Abner talked to the pretty maid, she thought about what James might be doing now, where he might be sleeping that night. He’d said to find him…and maybe she should. One more round couldn’t hurt. That would have to be the end of it, of course, but soon they’d be back in Skyhold and would probably lose each other forever. Honestly, how often did she march with the army anyway?

It’d be okay to have him one more time. He was definitely sexy...

Abner chewed on her lip and thought of how his large hands felt on her body, the power he held behind them, and the way he made her feel. Physically. Nothing else...

Abner covertly gathered information from the maid about when the homestead turned in for the night, and when the young woman rose to tend to the livestock. All the while, Abner glanced around the building, surveying the scene. She tagged along as the maid completed her chores, following her to a vacant stall where the fresh hay was kept. Abner inspected the area, smiling, and talking pleasantly, but her mind was hatching a plan. She knew just where she wanted to take James that night.

_One last time. One last roll in the hay._

Abner snorted to herself, causing the maiden to turn her head in question. Abner just smiled and bid her a fond farewell. If she ever found herself in that area again… in the presence of that young maid again... _Who knows_ …

A grin proudly beaming on her face, Abner traversed the Inquisition’s camp. She had learned of James’s mutual connection to the Chargers, so when she found Grim slouching on a crate by himself, she was exuberant.

“Hey Grim, what’s shakin’?” she asked and plopped herself down on the crate beside him.

“Rmph,” he grunted. Grim was never a man of...well… words of any sort, but Abner knew how to handle him.

“Say,” she said, trailing a finger from his shoulder, down his bicep, and then walking her fingers delicately across his forearm. The silent mercenary side-eyed her, the corner of his mouth twitching up ever so slightly. _Got him_. “You know that warrior? The one as big as a mountain? James, I think his name is?”

Grim tipped his head at her, pursed his lips with a smirk and in a manner that said _‘seriously?’_ When she smiled angelically in return, he tipped his chin to the west. Her eyes followed his direction toward the middle of camp where Commander Cullen had a large table set up, soldiers milling around him like busy worker ants.

Abner smiled and pecked a light kiss on Grim’s cheek. “Thanks, doll,” she whispered in his ear before nipping it lightly and hopping up to her feet. She slipped through the crowds toward the commander’s station. Unassuming. She was always able to blend into the background when she wanted to, even if she was an odd sight in this army. She’d been accustomed to being the odd-one-out from a young age and had long since mastered the craft of using it to her advantage - either to stand out, or to disappear.

Soldiers clad in Inquisition armor clanked around her in a flurry as she traipsed through the chaos. Cullen leaned over a table in the middle of it all, his fists propping up his massive, hunching body. She idly walked around his workspace, hands clasped behind her back, a friendly bounce to her step, scanning her eyes over the papers on his makeshift command post.

“Abner,” he said flatly, moving nothing but his eyes to follow her around the table. “Leliana doesn’t usually send her assassins with messages… is there something you need?”

“Me? Oh, nothing,” Abner said sweetly, fingers pulling at papers to sneak a better look.

Cullen sighed, “I’m in no mood for your games today, agent. Just tell me what you’re looking for.” The commander’s gruffness always amused her. Even though the battle was successful, and he’d received word that the Inquisitor was safe in Skyhold - after walking through an eluvian - Cullen was still tense. Cullen was _always_ tense. _He needs his ass back in Skyhold,_ Abner mused, _relax a little with his woman..._

She saddled up beside him, even more tickled when he jerked slightly away in surprise. Her eyes never left the reports and… _schedules!_ There it was, just what she needed.

Abner slowly patted his silly, furry-feathery mane, the place she considered the source of all his power. “Not to worry, Commander,” she said slowly, scanning until her eyes found James’s name and rotation in the patrols circling the camp. “Just wanted to say hello…” She looked up at his scowling face with a wide grin. “Hello, Cullen.”

When he groaned and rolled his eyes, she laughed and scampered away. She had what she came for. James was working patrol - the evening shift until midnight. Plus, she noticed the route the soldiers took while she was wandering the camp that day.

Perfect.

As night fell, Abner joined in normal camp revelry until it was time to make her move. James would be relieved of patrol soon, and she knew where he’d walk by when he came back to camp. She waited for him there, beyond the edge of the last line of tents, along the far walls of the homestead’s barn.

She cooly propped her shoulders against the barn wall, hips swaying back and forth as she pivoted the heels of her bare feet. She’d dressed for comfort and ease of access - a light and baggy cotton shirt with loose cotton trousers that she’d swiped from an unsuspecting soldier while his back was turned. She wore nothing else except the old brown tie she used to secure the trousers around her waist, and another to pull her dreaded hair into a knot on top of her head. The oversized clothing made her feel sexy, as the night breeze caused the pools of extra cotton to graze against her naked body underneath.  

Soon, she heard the low rumble of James’s deep and strangely accented voice as he walked by a few meters away, his voice joined by that of another warrior by his side. Torches placed around the farm softly illuminated their figures in the distance. Abner’s breath hastened, and her blood beat stronger in her veins.

She waited.

With her chin tipped down, but her eyes turned up and focused on him, she played with a small dagger that danced leisurely in her hands, reflecting the firelight of the torches in his direction. When James saw her, he paused mid-step for the briefest of moments, and she smiled. His eyes locked on her swaying body, and his voice trailed off mid-sentence. She heard him say, “No… I know her. I’ll… I’ll see you later,” before he waved off his friend and walked in her direction.

Her heart raced a little faster with every step he took, but she covered it with a calm demeanor. No reason for him to know the effect he had on her. She considered that perhaps this was a bad idea, only to shoo the thought away by the time she could see the details of his piercing eyes.

“Hello,” he said slowly in his deep, enticing voice. He stood so close that she could feel his body heat pulling her in, and she moved her hips out a fraction closer. A gauntleted hand reached out to stroke her arm and a soft smile spread across his lips, though his gaze was serious. Smoldering. Heat pooled between her legs.

Abner stuck her dagger in the wood behind her with a thunk while simultaneously pushing her shoulders off the building, propelling herself upwards. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down to meet her lips. The feel of his lush, soft lips was electrifying. He moved his hands to caress her waist and she sighed, breaking their kiss with a smile.

“Hello,” she said and bit her smirking lip.

“You found me.” His voice was like sex - dark, sensual, and stoking a deep need in her core.

“I did.”

“I’m glad.” His hands gripped her waist a little tighter and they both breathed heavier. Anticipating.

Abner took one of his hands in hers, leading him around the side of the barn. “Come,” she said softly with a wink. He followed willingly as she brought him into the stables, back toward the stall of fresh hay.

“Is this a good idea?” James asked, hesitating once they entered the building, pulling back on her hand. “Won’t someone find us?”

“They’re asleep.” She stopped before the gate to the stall, looking over her shoulder and letting her eyes rake over him. “Don’t worry,” she smiled and pulled open the gate.

He grinned at her, walking in behind and surveying the piles of hay. “Why here?” he asked, amused.

“Why not?” she grinned back and reached for the buckles to his helmet. Carefully, she unlatched it, slipped it from his head, and let it fall to the ground. “You want me, yeah?” she asked, her tone playful.

“Yes.” His eyes were bright and hungry. He inhaled deeply, looking her up and down. Her body sparked under his gaze, wanting _him_ … badly.

“Then...I think you should…,” she said softly while she worked off his gauntlets, pulling on them one at a time and letting them drop to the hay. Looking up at him, she licked her lips. “Just go with it.” She left her lips parted and waiting for him.

_Take me..._

James quickly bent down to capture her in a kiss again, slipping his fingers immediately under her shirt to touch her skin. His hands slid up, caressing her breasts and making her skin sing. She sighed into him, stretching her hands for the buckles holding on his armor, deftly unlatching each one while their tongues tangled together. Abner smiled against his lips as the metal slid from his body and clanged on the ground behind him, giving her access to his hard body underneath. Her hands roamed beneath his shirts, feeling his taut muscles as excitement grew in her core.

She backed away, smiling, and pulled the large shirt over her head, tossing it to the side. James groaned with appreciation, stepping closer to take her back into his arms. But before he could touch her, Abner dropped to her knees and grabbed his belt, yanking him closer while making short work of the latch. With one quick tug his leather trousers were below his knees, the sight of his cock hard and straining in his smalls giving her a thrill. She looked up at him and smiled, taking the bulge in her hand. She massaged him gently, humming to herself with want and licking her lips.

“You don’t have to…” James murmured, reaching to stroke his thumb along her jaw. With a silent smirk, Abner slipped her fingers underneath the cotton waistband and eased his smalls down his legs. She wanted to make him see stars, just as he had done for her earlier that afternoon.

Taking him in her hand, she began to stroke, glancing up at his eyes with a grin. He watched her intently, groaning with the smallest fraction of a thrust forward as she opened her mouth and made a show of licking the underside of his cock. Slowly... achingly slow… she ran her tongue along the soft flesh. Her eyes were on his as he watched, staring at her with searing pools of vivid green encapsulated by deep blue, and he sucked his lower lip into his mouth.

Abner worked him in her hand, her tongue playing and slipping around the tip of his cock, her breath teasing his skin, her lips leaving soft, lightly sucking kisses. With a few more taunting swipes of her tongue, she drew a small bead of arousal from him. She lapped it up, tongue bursting with his taste.

James bit down on his lip and creased his brows. Watching her, his hand made a move to touch her, to grab her head, but he stopped himself, flexing and fisting his fingers instead. She smiled, taking the head of his cock back into her mouth, and sucked lightly, swirling her tongue around him. He never stopped watching her work, and Abner loved it, and the way his gaze heated her. He swallowed hard as she leaned forward, gliding her mouth over more of his cock, her hand still working every inch she couldn’t reach.

Slowly at first, she slid him in and out of her mouth, humming in satisfaction when he moaned, closed his eyes, and tipped his head back. Her free hand grasped his thigh, lightly digging her nails into his clenching muscles. She loved the feeling of him in her mouth as her tongue flitted along his length, and even more, loved the breathy moans he released as she did.

As her lips stretched and relaxed around him, Abner was able to take more and more, and she increased her speed. She guided him to the back of her throat and held him there, causing James to groan loudly and finally tangle his fingers in her hair.

Needing more from him, Abner gripped his thighs with both hands and pushed him farther down her throat. She heard him call out in a deep and thunderous rumble, “Jesus, Abner…” It was a strange word she’d never heard before, and he muttered even more of them under his breath.

Pulling back, she released him from her mouth and gasped for air, panting and smiling up at his attractive, flushed face. When her breath returned, Abner took him deep again, and she groaned softly when James guided her with his hands, thrusting his hips, more foreign words tumbling from his lips. She continued to take in his length until, while she paused to pant with parted, slick lips, James gave her a look that sent chills straight to her core. A stare that was dark, hooded and filled with pure lust and desire.

Hands fisted tightly in her hair, James tipped her head back, causing her swollen lips to part even more. A low, shameless giggle burst from her throat, and James’s lips twitched. For a small second, James just stared. Then he dove, down to his knees, plunging his tongue into her mouth. One strong hand remained in her hair to hold her head back, while the other grabbed her breast and kneaded roughly, causing her to cry out, a deep moan of pleasure mingled with pain, into his kiss.

Arching her neck back, James bent down and coated her jaw and throat with hot, tongue-stroking kisses, ending with a long drag of his tongue along her collarbone. Abner keened softly through quick, gasping breaths as his hands and mouth worked her body ardently, igniting a deep need in her. A need for _him._

“James,” she said softly and he freed his grasp on her hair. She offered him a pleased and desperate smile while she began peeling the layers of tunics off his gorgeous body. With his help, he was swiftly divested of shirts, and she gave him a gentle push back toward the hay. “ Lie down,” she ordered with a wicked grin. “I want you.”

He smiled and laid back against the low pile of straw. Abner stood to slip out of her stolen breeches, and James took his cock in his hand, stroking and pumping as he watched her undress. She loved the way his eyes felt on her body, and she made sure he got a view of her ass as she bent to kick the pants from her feet. No one had ever looked at her with the same adoring, primal appreciation that James did. It was so similar to how she felt their first night, when he managed to make her feel like a treasure with just a look. A stranger, but with eyes that saw right through her defenses - in a calming, warm way - like he knew _her,_ accepted _her,_ and cherished _her_.  

Once returned to her knees, Abner pulled off his boots and pants. Then slowly, she crawled up the length of him, dipping her head down to catch one of his fingers stroking his erection in her mouth. She kept it there, playfully sucking, while sitting up and placing her legs on either side of his hips.

His eyes never left hers as she sank herself down onto him, taking him slowly, stretching around his hot, slick length. His eyes bore into hers, and soft moans fell past their lips in unison as his hips rose to meet her, pressing himself deeper inside.

His eyes did things to her. Shameful things, stirring feelings she usually tried to avoid.

Her heart shuddered as she started to rock her hips with his cock buried inside her. He pulled his hand from her mouth and grabbed her hips, bruising fingers digging into her skin. Abner shut her eyes and leaned back, focusing on the feeling of his cock rutting against the part of her that made her want to scream. But she restrained herself. Homesteaders could only sleep through so much… Instead, a soft, high keen slipped through her ragged breaths.

Grabbing tight to his forearms - his large… firm… muscular forearms - Abner balanced herself and leaned further back, James’s cock pushing harder and deeper against her favorite spot. It was electrifying, and she rocked her hips faster and faster, her breaths and heart racing at the same pace. “James…,” she cried, his name erupting through her sharp breaths repeatedly. “Oh, fuck, James!”

He groaned “God, ja… ja! Fok. Jij voelt zo goed, Abner.” His voice, with his deep, broken words she’d never heard before, was so sexy that she could no longer control herself. His words, spoken so passionately that she felt their meaning, pushed her over the edge. Homesteader’s be damned. Abner screamed out loudly as veil-shattering electricity burst through her, until she was left gasping, her entire body shaking with euphoria.

Her skin glistening with sweat and prickling with chills pulsing through her body, Abner pulled herself forward until she was leaning over James, her face buried in the nape of his neck. James hummed with a low rumble of pleasure as he rocked her hips through the aftershocks of her orgasm.

“James, ríða… þú hafa a galdur hani,” she snickered breathlessly into his neck.

James chuckled back, “Ik weet niet wat je zegt, prachtig, maar je zijn foken mooi.”

Abner bit down on his pulse in retaliation for continuing to use his wild language. James yelped in pain at the bite, but she didn’t let go, sucking a mark into his neck while she smiled. Altering the slow, steady rocking their hips had continued since she came, he drove her down hard onto his cock again, sending a pulse of deep, aching pleasure through her entire body.

He grunted, slamming into her fervently while she proudly peppered his neck with even more marks. She might never allow herself to fuck this gorgeous man again, but she could leave her mark on him, so that at least for the next few days he couldn’t forget her.

James’s thrusts began to grow erratic when she moved to bite his ear, moaning into the shell. She felt his cock harden even more, pressing more firmly against her walls, before he shoved her hips down with a booming growl, spilling himself inside her with a few lingering pumps of his hips into hers. Abner spread soft kisses over every spot she remembered leaving a mark, before lifting up to look into his hazy eyes.

But as she rose, she noticed there wasn’t a single bruise on his neck. Abner was sure she’d left a mark… many marks… she took special care to. Such bites and kisses had bruised others before him, even when she was being far less forceful, yet James’s skin was unmarred. She was utterly confused.

“Why aren’t there--” she began to ask, but was interrupted when James pulled her head back down to him, smashing their lips, tongues, and teeth together in a chaotic frenzy. She quickly forgot her question, and returned his passion until they calmed into a heaving mass of sweaty, gasping bodies.

Slowly, Abner rose from James’s lips. Hunched over and panting, she stared into his hazy blue-green eyes. He looked back, spent. Appreciative. She wanted to cup his face, run her thumb along his jaw, kiss him and lay in his arms, have him hold her deep into the night - but she couldn’t. She couldn’t do that. This was already too much. _Three_ times she’d encountered him now… each time followed too soon after the time before. She knew better than that. That’s how habits formed.

No… it was time for her to go.

With a pat on his chest, Abner rolled off of him and sprang to her feet. “Can’t sleep here. Don’t want to give some poor maid the fright of her life in the morning,” she said as she fished her stolen trousers from beneath the hay and pulled them over her legs. Legs that still had a gentle tremble because of him, a tremble she took care to hide.

“No…,” James said blearily, though he smirked slightly. “We wouldn’t want that.” He still took his time getting up, barely sitting before she was dressed. Then he just sat there, watching her fondly, his chest still softly sheened with sweat and heaving gently, a lopsided, thankful grin on his handsome face. He was so bloody charming.

Abner sighed. She needed to go and so did he. She shook her head and reached out a hand to him, waving her fingers to get him to move. He took her hand and she helped pull him to his feet. Looking him over, one last time, her eyes appreciated his perfect body, and her chest sank toward the ground. A wash of sadness befell her, but she shook it off and slapped his perfectly chiseled ass.

“Good job,” she cooed up at him. She didn’t want to leave, and the longer she stood there the harder it was becoming. “Take care of yourself, James,” she said, and it hurt, and she was mad that it hurt, and that told her it was the right decision.

Before he could say or do anything but smile at her in that gorgeous way that he did, she turned to open the stall gate and slipped out into the night, ignoring the soft call of her name as she left.

Abner’s chest was heavy… sunk too low for comfort. Perhaps one more time _had_ been one time too many. She needed to move on. Forget that warrior and the odd, warm sensations he made her feel.

“No more risks,” she told herself. “No more.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Due to Abner's love of the stables, Masulevin requested the agent show James a good time in the hay - thanks for the request, MaSul!
> 
> Translations:  
>  _ Ekki hætta. Ekki hætta. Ekki hætta_ \-- "Don't stop. Don't stop. Don't stop."  
>  _ God, ja… ja! Fok. Jij voelt zo goed, Abner._ \-- "God, yes ... yes! Fuck. You feel so good, Abner."  
>  _ James, ríða… þú hafa a galdur hani._ \-- "James, fuck ... you have a magic cock."  
>  _ Ik weet niet wat je zegt, prachtig, maar je zijn foken mooi._ \-- "I don't know what you're saying, gorgeous, but you are fucking beautiful."
> 
> ***  
> This is an AU of our separate epic Dragon Age fanfiction tales, using two of our popular OC’s that many Tumblr folks like to think of banging (including us).
> 
> Find more the hunk [Here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3858271/chapters/8616355).  
> Find more the minx [Here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8841850/chapters/20275030).


	3. Need

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After their encounters in the Arbor Wilds and the march back, James and Abner start to feel a need to see each other again... and again...

 

__

_It’s over._

Abner could hardly believe it, but it was over. The Inquisitor conquered Corypheus and with no sneaky magic to bring him back to life this time around. It was truly over. Finished. Done.

_Over._

_However,_ her last mission had proved there was still much for the Inquisition to do. Thedas was still in chaos. Between remnants of Red Templars and Venatori, countless idiots were using the weakened state of the world to take advantage of people and fill the continent with fuckery. Abner had only been in Skyhold a few hours, having returned from a mission to put down some of those very idiots.

After her night with James in the stables, she’d taken a mission to eliminate a small pocket of Venatori discovered in Jader. She’d needed some distance from the man. There had been too much happening too quickly. Too much emotion. Too many feelings. The distance had helped, though, and now that Abner was back, and the tits in Jader were dead, she felt refreshed.

She’d missed the breach reopening and the fight with Corypheus, but she’d managed to walk through Skyhold’s gates just in time to catch the end of Inquisitor Samahl’tu Lavellan’s victory speech. The fortress erupted in celebration soon after, and Abner was now wandering the many pockets of jubilation with a half-empty mug of dark ale in her hand.

Wandering up the steps to the Great Hall, she turned to peer at the scar in the sky. A shimmering green line that serpentined in the air, reminding the world what could have been. She took a moment to contemplate the last couple of years, before the loud revelry falling through the large and open hall doors behind her drew her mind back to the present festivities. Turning back to climb the final steps, Abner grinned to herself. They’d done it.

They saved Thedas.

Abner stepped through the foyer and stopped to watch the gayety before her. It felt good to see everyone so spirited. She took a deep and satisfied breath, and then heard her favorite raspy voice call out from her right.

“Hey, Killer!” Varric said from his usual spot, sitting at the head of a table beside the hall’s entrance, alongside a roaring fire in a large hearth.

“Hey, Tethras,” Abner grinned and walked over to stand next to his chair. “Were you there?”

“I was. It was crazy! There were dragons, and floating temple shit, and beams of light.” He chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. “No one will believe the story. I’m not even sure that I do.”

“I’m sure whatever embellishments you add will help.” Abner winked and knocked her hip into his shoulder. “I’m glad yer safe, dwarf.”

“Thanks. Me, too. Not sure what Thedas would do without their favorite storyteller.”

“Despair and lawlessness. Definitely.” She winked again, then eyed a tapped barrel keg beside him. “Seriously? You have your own tap right here? Of course you do.” She sighed with a roll of her eyes. “I’m taking some.”

“Help yourself,” she heard Varric say as she walked behind him. She knelt to fill her mug, turning her head toward the room as she waited for it to fill.

That’s when she saw him.

Abner’s breath caught in her chest, finding that James stood not twenty short paces away, talking to the Iron Bull. He had a beautiful smile on his face, and she admired the way Bull didn’t seem to tower over him in the same way the Qunari did over everyone else... _ever_.

“Hey! I’d like that ale to be either in the mugs or in the barrel, not on the ground!” Varric yelled and Abner snapped her attention back to the ale that was spilling over the side of her mug and splashing onto the old stone floor.

“Shit!” she yelped as she frantically turned off the tap and wiped drips from the edge of her mug. Sipping the foaming top to keep any more from spilling, she stood and sheepishly turned back to her friend. “Sorry, Varric,” she sighed. “That was thick of me.”

“Well,” Varric chuckled and tipped his chin forward. “I don’t know if that’s how you wanted Whiskers to notice you, but you certainly got his attention.”

“Huh? What are you--” Abner began to say, following Varric’s gaze...right to James...who was staring back at her. Her mouth hung open, words forgotten.

Momentarily frozen and wide-eyed, she wasn’t sure what to do, but got pissed at herself for even caring. But then, Bull said something to James and the man looked away, breaking the spell he’d had her under.

Abner inhaled, her chest rising high, and turned to stare into the deep brown ale in her mug. She let the breath pass through her nose with a long sigh.

“Not used to seeing you like that, Killer,” Varric commented. She looked over at him to find the dwarf grinning smugly at her.

“Like what?” she grumbled and took a drink of her ale.

“Twitterpated.”

She sneered at the man, a fist on her hip. “That’s not a thing.”

“Yes, it is.”

“No, it’s not. And I’m definitely not it.” She grunted indignantly and marched away from Varric while ignoring his low, amused chuckles.

Retreating to the other side of the hall, Abner leaned against the wall and drank silently. She wasn’t _twitterpated_ , she pouted to herself. She didn’t get _twitterpated_. For anyone. The nerve of that dwarf. She just...got a little distracted. She was tired. She’d been on the road. Who knew when her last decent night’s rest was?

Shaking her head, Abner released the allegations Varric laid on her and drank her ale, enjoying the lightness the alcohol brought her. She tried to watch the party and put James out of her mind. She didn’t need to think about him, or what he did or did not make her feel. Her eyes traveled the Great Hall looking for something _else_ interesting to occupy her mind.

But instead…

She watched _him_.

A tiny, insignificant ache settled in her chest. Had she been missing him? _Don’t be daft_ , she scolded. She barely even knew him. They’d had a little fling during the Arbor Wilds nonsense, that was all. Many came before, many would come after. There was nothing special about _that_ man. Nothing to make her so fucking drawn to him.

Still, as she drank, refilling her mug from a keg far from his side of the room, Abner found herself smiling while she watched him. Then she found herself walking towards him. Slowly, she padded across the hall, overhearing a fussy noble gasp at her bare feet. But she ignored it, as she always did.

Abner hardly even realized she was walking, until James looked over from where he was now sitting at Varric’s table.

Their eyes locked and she swallowed hard, his piercing stare halting her in her tracks. She was left standing in the middle of the hall, toes gripping nervously at the long, grand carpet beneath her feet. Her heart pounded in her chest like marching militia, and she started to feel a little dizzy. James looked at her intensely. Serious. Her entire body flushed.

James rose, never dropping the contact of their eyes. The action snapped her out of her daze. He was going to approach her, and instinctively, Abner melted back into the crowd.

She shouldn’t have been so affected by that man. She shouldn’t have been that happy to see him. Because that’s what it was, wasn’t it? She was excited to see him. So excited that she had apparently forgotten how to function. None of this was like her. How exhausted was she?

“Get it together,” she groaned to herself, and noticing some of the other Chargers huddled nearby, joined them to get her mind recalibrated. She needed this distraction. She talked with them and time passed, swapping stories about their last few weeks. The conversation helped settle Abner down, and she started to feel more like herself again.

Drinks were poured. _Many_ drinks were poured. The celebration was in full swing and Abner felt like she was floating through the air. As her body relaxed, however, she found herself standing in just a way so that she could see James again, and so he saw her too.

She glanced over to him repeatedly, and when his eyes caught hers, he started to grin. She grinned back, warmth spreading through her body. She wanted to talk to him, but doubted she should. But something about their stolen glances made her feel...good.

He didn’t try to approach her again, but Abner decided that if he did...if he tried to talk to her...she wouldn’t run away. Maybe it was the ale, but she allowed the excitement of seeing him spread through her. She _wanted_ him to try again.

“Cards?” Skinner’s gruff voice grunted in her direction.

“Sure,” Abner responded and followed the mercenary, along with a few other Chargers, to Varric’s table. The table where James was sitting.

She sat near him, though not next to him. Positioned across from each other, they could speak , if they wanted to, but without the pressure to do so either.

The group played a few rounds, and soon everyone was laughing while exchanging playful insults and banter. Every so often Abner sent a coy glance across the table to James, and he caught it willingly, his eyes growing more and more amiable with each passing look.

She started to tease him, after a few bad hands. He was a shit card player. But she found it adorable how he’d get frustrated and broody with each terrible play. Until he looked back at her, and his mood would shift just enough to make her catch her breath, watching as the corners of his mouth lifted ever so slightly, and his eyes sparkled.

Eventually, the game devolved into a pissing contest between Bull and Varric. With everyone captivated by their spirited boasting, Abner and James let the rest of the party fall away, attention focused entirely on each other. After a few long, heated moments lost in each other’s gaze, James smiled. His gorgeous eyes were bright in the dimly lit hall, and he tilted his head in a questioning gesture, inviting her to leave the table.

Abner grinned and stood from her seat. She waited for him to come to her, and then twined her fingers with his as he led her away from their friends. She followed with a smile, chest fluttering the whole way.

\--

James led Abner away from the crowd and over to a corner that was half hidden by a large statue of a halla, a gift from Dorian to Sam. Abner twirled gracefully once they reached the wall, releasing his hand and leaning back against the stones with a smirk. James smiled in return while joining her and leaning daringly alongside her.

His heart was racing, being near her again. He hadn’t been sure that he was going to see her after the way she had left him in the stable. She had left so quickly, and with a joke, that James had been certain she wanted nothing more to do with him. He’d overstayed his welcome, overestimated whatever connection had seemed to develop between them. She had fucked him senseless in that stable, and he had been entirely unprepared to try and ask her to stay with him for the rest of the night.

But it was the nature of…whatever they’d been doing, James reasoned. A couple of romps and that was the end of it.

It wasn’t what he wanted, but Abner had disappeared. Every day on the march, and every night at camp, he’d looked for her. Desperate to see her again. He’d thought of her each night as he fell asleep, unable to remove the sight of her riding him from his mind. Although, it was more than that, more than wanting to have sex with her again. He found himself bored nearly out of his mind during that march, his normal conversation companions dull compared to her. They’d already exchanged most of their stories. There was nothing new. Nothing fun.

Abner, on the other hand, was exciting, intoxicating, and there was something about the way her dark eyes sparkled with mischief no matter what she was saying that made James feel as if the world was not only filled with pain. If someone as beautiful and full of life as her could exist in the darkness, then there was a chance he could be _happy_.

Tonight felt like a miracle. They had found their way back together, and she had worked her way toward him on her own. It was amazing, and James wasn’t going to waste his chance to be near her again, to hear her laugh, and look into her sparkling eyes…

 _If she wants to slip away for a moment, or two, alone_ …James would have no objections. Just standing beside her, almost touching, but not quite, made him feel good. He was reminded just how much his body was drawn to hers, how much he found himself _needing_ to kiss her, to touch her, to feel her pressed against him…

He needed this feeling after the last couple of weeks since the battle in the Arbor Wilds. He had travelled with the Inquisitor to some secluded altar - a good thing too, since a dragon had shown up and needed subduing. Then, he’d been among those who rushed to the ruins of the Temple of Sacred Ashes as the Breach reopened. James didn’t rise into the sky with the ruins, but there had been enough demons on the ground to go around. While caught in the melee, he had thought, more than once, as the Breach grew to a monstrous size, that he wouldn’t make it through the night alive.

But he _was_ alive, he _had_ made it, and was now beginning to relax. The alcohol he’d been drinking all night helped with that, but Abner being there just made the victory that much sweeter.

He was encouraged by the jabs they had exchanged over the game, and even more emboldened by the whiskey he’d been drinking. So when Abner started to tease him, he was more than happy to laugh at her mock insults, and try to dish them back.

“I hope you don’t make a habit of gambling,” Abner teased. “Yer obvious when you bluff.”

James crossed his arms, lifting his chin. “No I’m not.”

Abner laughed, loud and beautiful. “You have a tell!” she chuckled while she reached up and flicked his nose. “You flare your nostrils when you lie.”

He looked down at her. “I do not!” James exclaimed, even as he felt his nose flare out, still tingling from the slight touch she’d given him. He took a deep breath, resolved to keep his nostrils under control. “I’m a fine Wicked Grace player,” he insisted. “I nearly beat Bull.”

Abner snorted. “That’s because he had a streak of bad cards. _And_ he was going easy on ya.”

“You weren’t doing so well either,” James pushed. “If you think I have a tell, why did I last longer than you?”

She raised a single eyebrow, the line of dots tattooed above curving on her forehead, and one corner of her lips turned up in a smirk. “Maybe I was going easy on you, too.” Her voice had dropped, a low heat simmering through it.

 _That_ sent a flush of warmth through James’s body, adding to the flush of alcohol already there. He was still a little annoyed to think that he was so easily read, but he found himself not caring when it came to Abner. He rather liked the thought that she was paying close enough attention to notice that his nostrils flared.

He was going to tease her about that, say she must have been watching him _pretty intently_ to notice such a small detail, when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked away from Abner to find a tall, brunette woman with a face covered in freckles approaching, a dimple marking her right cheek as she smiled.

His sister. Naomi.

She stopped a few feet away, and turned her smile briefly toward Abner. Then she looked back to James, her bright, blue-green eyes happier than he had seen them in some time.

“I just wanted to say goodnight,” she said. She took a step closer, hesitated, then stepped forward fully to give him a hug. James hugged her back, finding it a little awkward to have his sister appear while he was trying to flirt. “I’m so glad you’re alright,” Naomi whispered. “And I’m proud of everything you’ve done.”

“Thanks, Naomi,” James murmured, giving her a squeeze. She had not been happy to see him follow the Inquisitor to the Breach, and he knew how much she worried for him. Naomi was prone to fretting and overreacting when it came to him, and James often wished she would ease up her worrying. But it was over now, they'd won, and James was fine. Although he knew it was difficult for his sister, he hoped she could find it within herself to relax. Even if just a little.

Naomi pulled back with a smile, and a final glance toward Abner. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she told him as she walked away. James watched as she joined Cullen by the door that would lead them up the stairs of the tower and to their room. The commander reached to cup Naomi’s cheek and leaned in, placing a kiss on her lips. They disappeared through the door afterwards, small, private smiles on their faces.

James felt a familiar pang in his chest seeing them, a longing emanating from deep inside. He’d had what Naomi now possessed once; a partner who he’d loved, who he’d intended to marry. It had been years, but it still hurt sometimes to think of that woman, to remember the love he had lost when he was brought to Thedas. He hadn’t been able to say goodbye, and that had made letting go even more difficult.

It was something he wanted again. Love. A companion. A partner. But constantly fighting had not made it an easy or likely thing to find. Maybe now that the war was over…

He didn’t want to get his hopes up, however. Abner made him feel good, but James didn’t think she was on the search for anything more. And any other woman he had been with in Thedas just…hadn’t felt right.

Perhaps he should try again, give them another chance, now that he finally felt as if he could move on from that woman on Earth.

“So,” Abner said, her eyes still fixed on the door where Naomi and Cullen had disappeared. “How do you know our fearless commander’s lover?”

James glanced down. “Naomi is my sister.”

Abner’s eyebrows shot up, but she quickly lowered them to a more neutral position. “I shoulda known,” she said thoughtfully.

“Why?” James asked. He didn’t think he and his sister looked particularly alike.

“Your eyes,” Abner offered. “You have the same striking eyes.”

James grinned, feeling a little smug. “You think my eyes are striking.”

Abner glanced away, shrugging, but there was a tiny, upward pinch to the corner of her full lips. “I doubt I’m the only one who’s told you.”

“Dorian’s said as much a time or two,” James offered with a chuckle.

Abner laughed, and looked back up to his face. “So, any other siblings lying around I should know about?”

James’s smile fell. He wished it didn’t. He had worked past the worst of his grieving. “No, just Naomi,” he said quietly, and before Abner could inquire further, added, “The rest of my family was killed in the…chaos Corypheus caused.” It wasn’t the entire truth, but it was close enough.

He watched Abner’s own smile fall away, and the smallest flicker of grief and compassion cross her face. “I’m sorry,” she replied, and James knew she meant it, unlike others whose empathy was just a courtesy. “I lost my own family long ago as well.”

James nodded, and swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. He was hard pressed to find anyone in Thedas who had not suffered some kind of loss. “I decided to fight for the Inquisition because of what happened. I wanted justice for them, and to keep Corypheus from hurting anyone else.” He let out a long breath. “It’s the first thing that’s really given me purpose.”

“I hear ya,” Abner said with a nod, and shifted her body closer. Her hand brushed against his leg and James felt a jolt of electricity shoot up his body. “That fuckin’ piece of work really screwed shit up. Didn’t help that a lot of assholes decided to make things worse by taking advantage of the chaos.” She grinned slyly, glancing up at him through her lashes. “That’s where I come in.”

James raised an eyebrow, nudging his hand closer to her body, and pressing his arm along the length of her own. “As an assassin?”

Abner’s eyes twinkled. “I never said _that_.”

He laughed and shook his head. “Fine, keep your secrets.” James didn’t need her answer. He’d pieced together enough information on his own…and he’d also asked Cullen about her while they were on the road. The commander had grumbled about _insubordination_ , but admitted the woman was one of the Inquisition’s most effective agents.

Abner just shrugged. “I’ll be stickin’ around, for bit, anyway. Those assholes won’t go away just because the Breach is gone. _Especially_ now that the civil war in Orlais is over. Plenty of nobles gettin’ too big for their britches, and idiots needin’ silenced while the Chantry gets their shit together.”

James was glad to hear it, and leaned a little closer. He’d worked himself so he was flush with her body, and he could gently graze his fingers over the curve of her hip, sending slow waves of pleasure through his intoxicated body. Their conversation had turned again, out of the reminiscing of darker times, toward the future, which was new, and unknown, and exciting…especially if Abner might be in it.

Even if it was just for a short time, a few more turns in the hay, or wherever they might end up. He was not ready to stop seeing her, and when she cocked her hip even more against him, a flush swept through his body, accompanied by a deep, aching need to have her.

“I think all Orlesians are too big for their britches,” he told her with a smirk.

She chuckled. “And that’s saying something, what with their big, puffy peacock shirts,” she joked as she mimed giant pads resting on her shoulders. Her elbow jabbed into his side, making James laugh, and when she lowered her hand, he made sure to catch it with his own. She smirked, and gripped him back.

“They must fit the extra ego in their hats,” he offered.

She laughed, full and deep, making James’s entire body buzz. He loved her laugh. When she was done she leaned her head against his arm. “I will say this,” she mused, lacing her fingers with his. “The bakeries in Orlais are amazing. Maybe someday I’ll show you the true meaning of ecstasy. Frilly cakes.”

James grinned, encouraged by the talk of seeing each other enough in the future to visit a bakery. Even if she didn’t mean it, she was here with him now, and the more she pressed herself into his side, the harder it came for James to focus on anything but his need to get her naked.

He had a much different kind of ecstasy in mind.

“I doubt a cake can compare to what we do together,” he said gruffly, his voice already lowering, just thinking about how hot and wet Abner felt wrapped around his cock. It was a wonder his mind had been able to wander away from those thoughts at all. He released her hand and worked his own behind her body, sliding it down her back until he could play with the top of her tight breeches. “And we don’t have to go to Orlais for it.”

Abner bit at her lip and glanced up through her lashes with a smirk. She slipped her now free hand behind him, finding his ass and giving him a hard squeeze. “Why James, we’re in the middle of a party,” she whispered playfully.

“I’m sure we can figure something out,” James responded, his cock already shifting slightly in his smalls. He was encouraged by her banter, the way she licked her lips as he spoke, and the hooded, lustful look that had come over her eyes.

Abner looked away with a snicker and cast her eyes over the hall, scanning for somewhere to go. James joined her, thinking of where they could find some privacy. He doubted she had a room of her own, and he bunked with several other soldiers in the barracks. He considered a few out of the way rooms the soldiers used when they needed time with their lovers, but figured most of them would be already occupied. And he wasn’t too keen on waiting for their turn…

But then Abner grabbed his hand and pulled him across the hall, toward the door that led to the undercroft. James knew it would be locked at this time of night, but Abner knelt down in front of the door, pulling a small pouch out of a hidden pocket in her clothes.

“Make sure no one sees,” she whispered as she removed a set of metal picks from the pouch. James turned back toward the hall, moving so that his body was covering Abner as she worked. Another large halla statue concealed them from most of the crowds, and James could tell that everyone else was too drunk and preoccupied with their own companions to notice two people breaking into the door in the far corner of the hall.

The door creaked open and before James could turn, Abner was pulling on his arm, herding him into the dark stairwell, and closing the door snugly behind them.

Carefully, they descended the stairs, stifling a few giggles, the air growing cooler and damper with each step deeper below the fortress. The crashing of the waterfall got louder as they approached the second door, and when Abner opened it, became almost deafening.

How anyone managed to work under such noisy conditions, James didn’t know.

The cave was lit dimly by moonlight streaming through the falling water as the cave opened to the sky beyond. Abner flitted deeper into the cave, bouncing between a few of the different crafting stations while James followed behind.

“I haven’t been down here in a while,” she mused, her voice echoing against the cold, damp walls. She approached one of Dagna’s work benches. Its surface was mostly clear, though a few strange, twisted instruments were piled on one back corner. Abner looked over the pile, shaking her head. “Not since that little archanist moved in.”

James placed his hands on his hips, surveying the space. “Naomi works down here sometimes. She and Dagna are friends.”

Abner looked over her shoulder. “Your sister’s a smith?” she asked.

James shook his head. “No…she works with plants and potions and stuff.”

“I see,” Abner said, turning back to Dagna’s pile of tools. She reached for one and lifted it up. It was some sort of twisting, clamping thing, with a glowing rune on the end. She twirled around and brandished it toward James, a wicked grin on her face, her dark eyes shining slightly in the dim light. She lowered it, pointing the glowing end directly at his crotch. “Bet if I used this on ya, I’d make that cock of yours _really_ magical.”

Even though he knew she was teasing, James flinched inwardly. The thought of such a strange, cold instrument anywhere near his cock was terrifying. But not wanting to dampen the mood, he crouched slightly, attempting to give her a teasing grin back. “You can fucking try,” he growled.

Abner let out a chuckle, then lunged in an obvious mocking display. But James moved much faster, and covered the distance between them with a small sprint, wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her off her feet. She gasped, and the tool she was holding clattered to the ground. James set her on the table, centering himself between her legs.

Before she could say or do anything else he was kissing her, gripping her ass with one hand and pulling her against him so his cock pressed against her core through their clothing. With his other hand he grasped the side of her neck and tilted her neck back with his thumb so he could dive into their kiss from above.

She groaned softly, quickly moving to tug on the ties holding his tunic closed across the front of his body. James let her go to help, never breaking the contact of his lips dancing with hers. Once the strings were loosened James slipped it off his shoulders as Abner lifted the hem of his undershirt toward his head. He pulled away from her mouth long enough to remove the shirt, and to help Abner as she lifted her own tunic up and over her head.

She wasn’t wearing a breastband, as she never seemed to do, and James took a moment to drink in the sight of her breasts, nipples dark and peaked in the cool air of the cave. He didn’t think he’d ever seen such beautiful, perfect breasts before, and immediately remembered the way they had bounced and moved as she rode him that night in the stables…

“Fuck…you are so gorgeous,” he breathed.

He moved to touch her, one hand once more finding her ass so he could press her against his clothed cock, rutting gently to remove some of the pressure already building there. But his other hand cupped one of those perfect breasts, kneading the soft flesh while her nipple pressed into his palm. She sighed softly at the contact, then moaned when James pressed his lips into her neck.

He started with a few, gentle kisses, but when she started to squirm against him, and rake her fingernails down his back, he sucked harder. Then, remembering the way she had bit at his own neck, did the same, nipping at her pulse with his teeth. Abner moaned louder at that, and buried a hand in his hair, encouraging him closer. James bit her again, slightly more forcefully, and Abner whispered, “Yes…”

James grinned, and squeezed her breast tightly. He began kissing down her body, brushing over her collarbone and over the dip above her sternum. Slowly, _slowly,_ he dragged his lips down her chest, resisting the urge to skip to his destination as Abner gasped and tugged on his hair, arching her back toward him.

Bending down, James took her breast in his mouth, humming with appreciation as he ran his tongue over the pearled nipple. Abner moaned loudly, wrapping her legs around his hips and pulling him closer, pressing his face into her chest with the hand buried in his hair.

James sucked for a moment, kneading her other breast, heat and pressure building in his stomach with every sound of pleasure that passed her lips. He liked being the one to make her feel good, after she had so thoroughly seen to him while in that stable…

There was more he could do. Releasing her breast James reached for her pants, pulling on the ties holding them closed. He slipped them down her hips, cupping her ass with one hand so he could lift her up and pull the clothes down her thighs. She leaned back on the table, supporting herself with her elbows. He kissed down her stomach as he slipped the fabric off her feet, spreading her legs and kneeling on the floor between them. He leaned in and kissed her inner thigh, glancing up to find Abner watching him with parted lips, her eyes hooded and dark, her breasts rising and falling with each deep breath.

He grinned, then kissed his way up, toward the slick, beckoning folds of her sex. He eased her open with one hand, nose filled with the heady, arousing scent of her. He groaned softly, bringing his lips to her wet heat, sliding his tongue between the curves.

She gasped softly, fingers returning to curl in his hair. James licked along the length of her, savoring her taste, and savoring the way her gasps turned into moans when he did it again.

He found her clit and flicked over it with his tongue, circling and pressing against the bundle of nerves until Abner was squirming and groaning loudly. She was already wet when he started, but she grew even more soaked as he moved his tongue playfully over her sex. “Oh yes, James,” she moaned when he pulled her clit between his lips, sucking lightly. She pressed her thighs together, gripping his head between their strength. “Fuck!”

James pressed himself closer, pulling her toward the edge of the table. He gripped at her hips with one hand, licking and nipping at her sex with his lips until she was writhing and gasping, declaring her pleasure with groaned expletives and strange words James couldn’t begin to understand. He had worked her toward the edge, and he longed to feel her around him, to bury his cock in the hot, wetness that he was savoring with his mouth…

But he also wanted to feel her come undone against his lips, so he kept working, slipping his other hand toward her entrance. Carefully, he eased two fingers entirely inside of her. He pumped along her clenching walls, moaning at how slick and soft she was. He found her clit again and began sucking in earnest. Abner made no attempt to hide her cries, and pulled him even closer with her hands. Overcome, she rocked and bucked her hips against his mouth.

James head was light and buzzing, nearly overwhelmed with her sounds, and her smell, and the taste of her. His cock was aching, sending pulses of pleasure through his body. It was almost too much, almost intense enough to force him to stop, so he could finish her with his cock…

But then she came before he could decide to change positions, sending out a cry that echoed loudly through the undercroft. James smiled when her legs clamped tight around him, licking leisurely a few more times, relishing the way her body shuddered when he flicked over her swollen, sensitive clit.

He pulled away after a moment, looking up at her face with a smile. She was grinning, her chest heaving from her elevated breathing. He stood, kissing his way back up her stomach, between her breasts and to her mouth. Abner was panting, and reached up to stroke at his jaw when he pressed his lips against hers.

He nipped at her bottom lip. Grinning down at her as he leaned over her shuddering body, he asked, “Can a frilly cake make you come like that?” Her eyes crinkled as she smiled. James loved how easy it was to talk to her now, how calm he felt around her, even when they were in the middle of fucking.

She laughed, her warm breaths falling across his mouth, the moisture still coating his lips cooling and sending tingling sparks across his face. “I don’t know…I’ve had some _really_ good cake.”

James growled a little. He knew she was teasing, but he wanted to make her feel so good that she wouldn’t even be able to joke about what was better…

He stood fully and reached for his pants, quickly undoing them so he could release his cock. He sighed slightly when it sprang free, straining hard and upward, desperate for some sort of friction. He pulled Abner back toward him, gripping under her thighs and centering himself against her entrance, the tip of his cock settling against her slick, swollen cunt.

He paused before entering her, meeting her eyes so he could ask if she was ready, but she grabbed his arms and pulled herself closer, pressing herself against his erection. “Fuck me, James,” she moaned.

James grunted and thrust forward, pulling Abner toward him as he entered her with one long, slow thrust. They moaned in unison as he filled her, and James closed his eyes, focusing on the feel of her stretching around his length. Abner fell back to the table, her hands grasping his arms tightly. James leaned over, opening his eyes so he could watch hers as he worked himself deep, thrusting until he was entirely encased by her sex.

“Fuck, you feel so good,” he groaned, pushing his hips into hers with a hard snap of his hips, making her sharply inhale. “So wet… and hot…”

He did it again, pulling out further and driving himself back in, groaning and grunting with her at the feel of his cock slipping along the length of her cunt. Abner wrapped her legs around his waist and released his arms, her back arching slightly off the table as he started to fuck her properly.

He picked up speed, gripping at her hips as he thrust into her, controlling and guiding her along his cock. He watched her as he moved, eyes fixed on where he was entering her. The sight of his length disappearing inside of her parted folds sent a thrill of pleasure and lust down his spine, spurring him to move even faster. James pulled out further and drove himself deeper, encouraged even more as Abner cried out to him and to whatever deities she must be invoking in her strange tongue.

He looked toward her eyes, but was distracted by the way her breasts bounced with every thrust of his hips. When he finally found her face, her brows were pinched with pleasure, her eyes watching his every move, glinting with lust. Her lips were parted, allowing her sweet sounds of pleasure released.

Abner brought a hand to her breast when their eyes met, kneading at the soft mound of flesh, pinching at her nipple. James groaned at the sight, panting as his balls started to tighten. He was so close. Too close.

She was beautiful, exquisite. It was overwhelming James to see himself fucking her, pounding into her cunt with such abandon, with such speed and force. And watching her reactions, what he was doing to her...he wanted her to enjoy it more.

He slipped one hand under Abner’s ass and held her steady while he continued to pound into her. The other hand he brought to where they were joined, rubbing his thumb over the hard, swollen nub of her clit.

Abner arched even further off the table, her eyes closing as a long, low keen emanated from her throat. James looked away from her face, focusing on where he was entering her, his entire body shooting with sparks of lightning at the sight, focusing all he could on rubbing at her clit, on making her come again before he lost control.

She came a few seconds later with another loud cry, her legs squeezing and kicking against his body. “Fok!” James cried with her, in his own native language, body spiraling even higher as she clamped tight around his cock. “God verdom het Abner, je bent zo strak!” He returned to gripping her hips with both hands, closing his eyes and slamming into her tight cunt with a few more deep thrusts.

“Ó, ríða James! Ekki hætta! Ekki hætta! Haltu áfram að kæla mig!” she begged, and it was so desperate, so sexy, that James came undone, spilling himself with several erratic thrusts into her.

“Oh, Abner!” he panted, heart racing and body trembling from his orgasm. When he was spent he collapsed forward, running his hands up her body and sliding them below her shoulders. He sloppily found her lips, and kissed her deeply, until they were utterly breathless. He pulled back when he needed to breathe, pressing his forehead against hers, their chest heaving against each other.

She was amazing, this woman he barely knew. Yes, he knew how her body felt pressed against his, what she sounded like when she was moaning with pleasure, how the sweet tang of her arousal burst on his tongue, and the way her cunt clenched tightly around his cock when she came…But there was so much he didn’t know. And he wanted to. He knew she made him laugh, that she made him feel relaxed in a way that no one else had been able to do in so long. But it wasn’t enough.

He wanted to know how she had become an assassin, what had brought her to the Inquisition, what she dreamed for her future…

He just wasn’t sure she wanted the same, and it made him anxious, even as he came down from the high of fucking her.

He lifted himself and gently pulled out of her with a sigh. Abner let out another soft moan as he did, and took another moment before sitting up. James grabbed her hips and helped her down from the table to the ground. He bent down and collected her clothing, handing them to her before finding his own.

She laughed as she slipped her tight tunic over her head. “I take it back…yer a _little_ better than cake.”

James chuckled, soft pride spreading across his chest. He finally felt as if he was learning what she liked… and found that rougher, harder sex was exciting to him as well. He started pulling his own clothes back on, starting with smalls and pants.

Abner was dressed and ready to leave before him, and James felt a slight panic when she started to walk away. She’d left in the stables, and he hadn’t known whether he would see her again. He didn’t want a repeat of that night. Not now. Not after he found her again.

He reached out and gently grabbed her arm. She turned toward him with a small smile, one eyebrow cocked higher than the other.

“I want to see you again,” he told her. “Even if… even if we just grab a drink and talk.” He squeezed her arm a little tighter. “Don’t be a stranger.”

Abner’s eyes widened, and she looked down toward the ground. James released her arm. He didn’t want her to feel pressured into anything she didn’t want. If she really wanted to disappear again, it would hurt, but he would have to let her.

Even if he desperately wished she wouldn’t.

She looked back up, chewing on her lower lip. “As friends?”

James’s heart thumped with hope. Friends. He could do friends. Friends knew each other. Friends saw each other often. Friends sought each other out when they were in the same place. Friends… didn’t usually fuck each other. But James wanted to spend time with her, whether they slept together or not.

“Yeah, as friends,” he agreed.

Abner smiled, then skipped to his side and hopped up, planting a quick peck on his cheek. “Alright then, how about that drink, friend?”

James laughed, quickly pulling his shirts back on. “I’ll buy,” he offered, following her out of the undercroft.

 

\-- **_3 Months Later_ ** \--

 

“ _Abi_ ,” a soft Orlesian voice whined while equally soft fingers grazed Abner’s back, tugging at her leathers as she bent forward to fasten her boots. “Abi, must you leave so soon?”

Abner stood from the edge of the plush, silky bed where she’d been perched. Swinging around, she caught the delicate fingers in her hand and pressed a kiss to their pale flesh. She looked through her lashes at the young lady pouting at her from beneath the covers and winked. “Cossette… I’m ‘fraid so, mon cheri,” Abner said with an exaggerated sigh. “If I don’t make it to my ship soon, the captain will wring my neck.”

A male voice groaned before a body appeared from beneath the covers and flopped over Cossette in great complaint. “Promise that you will come to us the next time your ship docks in Val Royeaux, Abi, S'il vous plaît.”

“Of course, Philippe. You two are the grandest part of Orlais.” Abner tipped her head and bowed flamboyantly. “‘Til we meet again.”

She turned and strutted toward a statue in the large, ornate bedroom. It was a tall marble woman draped in marble fabrics, holding a basket of marble fruit in one arm while the other was raised high toward the heavens. Abner’s tunic dangled there at the top, stuck high above her head.

With a quick run, Abner bounced off the statue’s base, launching herself in the air, and swiped her tunic from the marble woman’s hand. She landed lightly on her feet and slipped the cotton over her head. She eased through their bedroom door, blowing a kiss to her lovers still lazily lounging naked on their silken sheets. She smiled as she heard spent, soft voices call out to her in fond farewell.

Abner made her way through the intricate rooms of their grand Orlesian townhouse in Val Royeaux. Everything about the home was opulent. Everything was fussy. She eyed a _real_ bowl of fruit on a table near the back entrance and swiped a delicious looking pear from the pile. Not even Skyhold had the luxury of stocking fresh pears.

She’d met Cosette and Philippe while wandering the city streets the night before. They had been near the end of an obviously wild night, and neither she nor they had been able to resist each other. Abner had had a decent time, regaling them with stories she made up on the spot about her life on the high seas. She’d had an even better time spicing up their bedroom affairs… but something was missing. She hadn’t completely been _in it_ , and that bugged her.

That bugged her a lot.

With a furrow in her brow, Abner contemplated her night and why she had felt so absent when she should have been soaring high. She chewed her succulent pear and wandered the back streets of Val Royeaux, taking extra care to follow only the alleys. Zigging, then zagging, then jumping, then ducking at every opportunity. Her path took her far out and away from her actual destination, all to deter and lose any potential followers.

 _All_ streets had eyes.

Eventually, she made it to the Inquisition's safe house with more than enough time to clean up, dress, and head out for her mission.

It was a very inconspicuous house, not far from the alienage, in a section of town where the neighbors didn't ask questions. Not quite the slums, but it was not at all part of the extravagance Abner had come from that morning.

A lovely couple had been placed there to live and operate a small shop in the front of the house. The man was a cobbler, and the woman a leather worker with a flair for beading and other embellishments. Together, they created and repaired shoes for the upper echelon and the middle class alike. People buzzed through the building daily, so no one noticed or cared if a few of those people used the alley, and none of the surrounding buildings had windows in view of the back door.

Abner snuck in the back after she was completely sure she had not been followed. She headed directly through a locked basement door, and skipped down the stairs to the headquarters below.

Charter and Ritts sat at a table in the middle of the large, cold, dark room, lit by just a few oil lamps. The women were playing some kind of card game, most likely diamondback. Charter stole a glance at Abner as she hopped off the final two steps, landing proudly on the cobble stone floor below.

“Where were you last night?” the elven agent grumbled.

“Oh, you know, out and about,” Abner winked, and immediately began rifling through bags hanging from hooks set in an old stone wall. Soap… she needed some soap… She found a bar and sniffed it to ensure it was unscented. She needed to smell like _nothing_. She continued poking around in the bags, hoping for a warm bath. “We got any o’those fancy fire runes? Or do I have to bathe cold?”

“Cold,” Ritts answered, a sharp edge to her voice. “No one cares about a spy’s comfort.”

“Hmph. Shoulda bathed this morning. Bet all they had was smelly soap, though…” Abner mused, grinning coyly as she padded up to the table to check out their game,sneaking a peek at their cards.

“I’m sorry _my lady_ is not well cared for here in this dank, old basement,” Charter said with a roll of her eyes.

Abner patted the woman on the shoulder. “S’ok, I’ll forgive ya, this time.” She winked again and squeezed her shoulder. “Ritts has ya, by the way. Yer screwed.”

Charter groaned and threw down her cards while Ritts laughed in jubilation. Before the agent could swat her in retaliation, Abner ran to the tub with a chuckle.

She filled the bath with jugs of cold water that sat beside it, stripped off her gear, and eased into the small metal tub. One of the many times she found herself thankful for her small size, as bathing in shitty little tubs was not the hassle that it was for some of her cohorts.

As she bathed, Abner listened to Charter give orders to the other agent. “There are some Inquisition soldiers in the city today. Arrived last night - escorting a diplomat from Antiva. I want you to head to the bazaar to watch. The diplomat has a shopping trip scheduled between meetings. Nightingale wants reports on all of their activities. See who he talks to, note what he buys. Make sure nothing suspicious happens.”

 _Interesting_ , Abner thought. James was known to escort and guard important people when the need called for it. “Who?” she called out while scrubbing her arms of the past night’s grime.

“What’s it to you? You got a mission of your own,” Charter sneered back. Abner had a mission, yes, but it was just a quick in-and-out assassination, _and_ she was already ahead of schedule. She had some wiggle room, she could manipulate the time to check out a busy market on her way, _especially_ if anyone interesting was expected to meander through.

“Who’s doing the job?” she asked again as she scrubbed her feet, this time asking with an edge to her voice that matched Charter’s.

Charter groaned, but conceded. “Fine,” she grumbled, “James is one of them.”

Abner didn’t respond, and she didn't need to ask why Charter would know it was James she was curious about. They were in the business of secrets. Leliana probably had a file about Abner’s tryst with the warrior - or rather, a file about James. The spymaster would want to keep tabs on anyone even remotely connected to their commander. So Abner just smiled, suddenly feeling a little warmer in the cold water, and finished bathing.

Standing from the tub, she dried herself off with a nearby towel, then strutted proudly across the room to her bags. She definitely would take a detour on her way to her mark’s location. Maybe she could even have a bit of fun while she did…

“Focus on your mission, agent,” Charter said sternly. “If those bastards live through the day, we will have a right mess on our hands. Correction, _you_ will have a mess.”

Abner ignored her. One day the woman would learn that she listened to no one but Leliana. She wasn’t with the Inquisition as a favor to _Charter,_ afterall. Besides, who was she to doubt Abner’s abilities?

Abner continued her dressing in silence, ignoring the other two women as Ritts prepared to leave. Her mind instead drifted toward James, the gorgeous warrior with the perfect body, piercing stare, and charming smile. And frankly, if she was going to be honest, one of the best lays in Thedas.

It had been just under three months since their night in the undercroft. Considering how her heart warmed when Charter confirmed his name, Abner thought she should at least try to see him, now that they were once more in the same location. Knowing where he was going to be was too tempting. Abner was nothing if not impulsive. She would move her entire day around if it meant she could sneak up on that sexy warrior. She needed a pick-me-up after her less than inspired romp the previous night anyway…

A small… _very, very tiny_ …little, insignificant voice in the back of Abner’s head sounded off a warning. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t get attached. To anyone. Ever. But three months was a long time. It didn’t count as a habit when it’d been that long.

And she _wasn’t_ attached, so it didn’t matter.

They’d discussed it. They were just friends. It was okay to be excited about seeing a friend. And it was more than okay to be excited about fooling around with said friend. If they did. She hoped they would.

_We’d better._

Yes. She’d go to him,steal away with that mountain of a man while he was on his shopping trip. And then she’d go on her mission. Romp, then death. Sounded good.

Tingling with anticipation and grinning to herself as she thought of the way James’s heat felt against her, Abner dressed in muted tans and creams to help her blend in with the ivory plaster of the walls on sunny Orlesian afternoons. Abner pulled thin, stretchy fabric over her legs. No leather leggings that day. Her need for silent stealth and advanced mobility outweighed her need for physical protection. If she was careful, her marks would be dead and she would be gone before anyone ever knew she was there.

Abner cinched a heavily-boned, thick fabric corset over her waist and breasts and began strapping herself with a plethora of knives - both hidden and easily accessible - along with a collection of tightly wound ropes and wires, _just in case_. She slipped brown boots over her leggings, stashing one more knife and a bottle of poison inside.

She delicately placed her dreads in an intricate, clean twist around her head. At a glance one would assume she wore a fancy braided crown, a style that was popular among the middle class in the city.

Once all of her gear, clothing, and hair was placed, she draped a dusty-brown, hooded cloak around her shoulders and a simple, creamy enameled mask over her face. The cloak hid her gear, the mask helped her blend in with Orlesian fashion in addition to hiding her features.

Orlesians were so easy to assassinate.

Trotting up the stairs, Abner checked the windows into the alley before slipping through the safe-house doors. Keeping to the shadows, she walked with purpose toward the city’s main bazaar.

From a balcony on the second tier of the market, Abner watched the mingling crowd of feathery Orlesians below. She leaned against the wall, hidden in a shadow, eyes scanning the mass of people until she finally saw him.

Towering over everyone else, James pushed his way through the crowd along with three other Inquisition soldiers and a flouncy looking man who must have been the Antivan.

Abner watched him for a few minutes, a smile gracing her lips, concealed behind her mask. Observing the path they were taking as the diplomat stopped at many of the stands and shops, Abner climbed down the stairs to the lower level. Quickly ducking through the crowds and gaining on the warrior’s entourage, she trailed directly behind James.

A soft sea breeze blew around them, carrying his scent to her lungs. Oil and smoke with hints of armor polish and leather. It had been far too long since their night in the undercroft, she decided, lust blooming in her core. She needed more of him, she needed him now, and she needed him fast.

Her enameled metal face concealed her wicked grin and narrowed eyes as she stalked behind him. Planning.

They came upon an armor stand in front of the mouth to an alleyway. Crates upon crates of extra armor supplies were stacked in the dark, narrow passage, blocking most of the path and additionally providing great cover. Heraldry for Empress Celene hung between the two buildings on either side of the alley, draping fabric of blue and gold, blocking the sunlight from filtering into the narrow space behind. It was the perfect location.

The Antivan began inspecting and bartering for a pair of ornate bracers, and James sighed and walked toward the edge of the stand. Before he could settle into a guarding stance with a brooding grunt, Abner pulled him swiftly into the dark alley, reaching her arm up to cover his mouth and muffle the surprised yelp that tried to escape.

She pinned him against the wall on the other side of the crates. James shoved back, ripping her hand from his mouth and moving to attack. Anger raged in his eyes as she jumped back, lifting her mask. Smirking at him, Abner focused all of the heat she was feeling through her eyes in a lustful stare.

The fury quickly vanished from James’s face, switched out for shock, and then replaced with amusement. The corners of his mouth started to curl and her name began to form on his lips, but she stopped him by surging up for a kiss. She pulled his shoulders down to her and wrapped her arms around his neck. Their crashing lips ignited a jolt of excitement in her chest. She’d missed his lips, missed his body against hers.

He sighed into her, encasing her in his arms and pulling her up so that the toes of her boots barely touched the ground. His breastplate dug into the boning of her corset, her gear pressed into her body from the strength of his hold.

Pushing off his shoulders, Abner hopped down and away. Immediately, she began removing her mask, cloak, and some of her more cumbersome weaponry, setting everything on a crate beside them.

“Woah, woah,” James said,a startled lilt in his voice. “What are you doing?”

“It’ll be easier without all this shit on me,” Abner replied with a wink. She looked him up and down. “You should take some off too. Quickly.”

“No, ‘ _Hello James, how’ve you been the last few months?_ ’” he asked as he crossed his arms, tilting his head to the side with a frown.

“No time for that nonsense. Hurry up.”

“Nice. Just straight to business… _in an alley_? We could be seen. And I’m working, for Christ’s sake!” James’s tone was incredulous and slightly annoyed. It kind of pissed Abner off.

 _What the fuck’s a Christs,_ she wondered _._ He wasn’t making a lot of sense. She’d thought he’d be more keen on seeing her.

“What?” Abner turned and stood with her arms akimbo. Scowling up at him she returned his tone. “Yer not in?” She rolled her eyes. “I went completely out of my way to find you, ya know.”

“ _Abner_ ,” he said, jaw clenched. A warning. “There are tons people around! Chevaliers are patrolling everywhere.” He shook his head and huffed a frustrated sigh. “I’m not looking to get arrested for having my cock out in public. We are with the Inquisition. Cullen would have my head!”

She laughed with a snort. They’d screwed in semi-public places before… basically _every single time_. What was his deal?

“Really? All that muscle and yer scared of a little Chevalier? No wonder you got no scars. Yer too _scared_ to fight.” A smug look on her face, she crossed her arms and tipped her head opposite him. “And Cullen.” She scoffed a disgusted sound. “He’s bedding your sister. Like he’d harm a single hair on yer precious little head.”

James glared at her, his own scof rasping in his throat. He was right pissed now. Abner figured talking about Naomi crossed a line, but there was something about seeing him piping mad that was...actually _really_ sexy. It distracted her from her own frustration.

Abner bit her lip, realizing she'd never seen him angry at her before. His eyes were dark and intense, searing irritation through her like a molten hot fire iron. But if he was trying to dissuade her, he was failing miserably, as she just got more turned on. She wanted him even more after this display, and she was running out of time. If she was clever, perhaps she could work with this and inspire him, remind him how badly he _did_ want to take her.

“I thought you were braver than this,” she taunted. “I thought you were a man, not a scared little boy. A man who takes what he wants, when he wants it. Don't you want to _take it_ , James?”

There was a flash of a different type of heat in his eyes then. A subtle twitch to the corner of his mouth. Privately proud of herself, Abner turned and began wrapping her cloak around her discarded items like a small cloth bundle. She shook her head, clicking her tongue, looking down at her task. “I’ve got better things to do than waste time on chicke--”

Before she could finish her insult, she felt him clutch her elbow and tug. Abner grabbed her bundle of gear as James jerked her back, dragging her deeper into the alley. His grip was tight. Tight enough to hurt, and that made heat gather between her legs. It was exciting to see him this way. Broody. Angry. Passionate.

The alley grew darker and darker as he hauled her further in. On the other side of some crumbling cobblestone steps that led up to a landing for some old building’s back entrance, he yanked her violently behind the camouflage of the stone. She laughed as he swung her around, so very proud of herself for setting him off. Making the mountain erupt like a volcano.

James shoved her against the plaster of the wall, and her bundle of gear fell to the dirty ground with a clattering clang. Staring at her wickedly, his smoldering, molten eyes made her wet. He pulled his gloves off, throwing them on the ground, and stepped toward her.

Abner’s entire body was hot and pulsing. Her breath was ragged from the excitement and she swallowed hard a moan rumbling in her chest. “Look at you-” she began to say, but James covered her mouth with one hand.

Pressing her head back against the wall, he leaned down and brushed his lips against her ear. “ _Shhh_ ,” he whispered and forcefully slipped his hand down the front of her leggings. He immediately began circling his fingers around her clit, his touch sending shockwaves throughout her body.

She felt his hot breath against her neck before his teeth bit at her flesh. A tiny, ragged cry sang in her throat. He pressed his fingers harder against her, making sure her mouth was still covered.

“You like that?” he murmured into the skin of her neck before biting again. She nodded, even though it was difficult with his hand holding her head so firmly against the wall. “You still think I’m too scared to take what I want?” Abner could hear the crooked smile in his voice, and feel the way his lips curved up against her neck as the hair of his short beard lightly scratched her skin. Shaking her head slowly, she closed her eyes and felt her arousal spread between her legs. She never knew James had it in him to be so dominate, but she was so very glad he did.

James grunted with satisfaction, feeling her reaction to his wanton words as his hand was coated with her arousal. He worked his fingers between her thighs and tugged at her ear with his teeth, whispering more heated, dirty things in her ear while she fought to control the sounds his attentions conjured.

“You’re so wet,” he said and she whimpered. “I like that. How wet you are for me.” A teeny, tiny squeak keened through the fingers pressed over her lips.

Every word. Every deep, whispered syllable made every touch from his fingers feel even more amazing. He sent an electrical storm raging through her, surging, sparking, until she was tingling and dazed.

“I want to fuck you. Now. Do you want me to fuck you, Abner?” James asked and she nodded again, enthusiastically, her dreaded crown scraping against the old plaster. “If I remove my hand, will you be good and stay quiet?” Another nod. “Good. Now, turn around and pull down your pants.” He released his hold on her and retracted his hand from between her legs, angling his fingers now for the front of his own breeches.

Abner’s entire body was flushed, and she took the briefest of moments to gather herself before spinning around. Facing the steps they hid behind, she slipped her leggings down past her ass, the open air cool against the slick arousal between her legs. James groaned at the sight and she felt his large, strong hand grip the curves presented to him.

“Bend over,” he ordered and gave her a smack on the ass, making Abner squeak out a surprised giggle. “I told you to be quiet,” he said, but there was a hint of teasing to his voice. He smacked her again, harder this time, but Abner bit her lip, holding back the moan she wanted to release. Bending over, she gripped the edge of the landing for support and stood on her tip-toes, propping herself in the air for him.

James took position behind her. She felt a hand on either hip and the tip of his cock settle against her heat. With one slow push, he slid his cock fully inside her. They both exhaled, hiding faint sounds of pleasure behind their breaths.

“Jesus, you feel good,” he moaned, kneading at her hips.

Abner reached back with one hand and grasped at his wrist, encouraging him to grip her harder. James grabbed her hand instead, pulling her arm back to him. With a gasp, she peered over her shoulder at him, smiling with parted lips.

A blazing green fire burst in his eyes. He adjusted his hand to her forearm and bent forward, tugging her other arm back to him. With her sudden loss of balance Abner coughed an abrupt laugh and slipped forward just a little. Leaning forward and suspended in the air with her back arched, it was only her core strength and James’s strong, searing grip that kept her from toppling over.

Fingers digging into her forearms and completely in control, James began thrusting into her, rough and fast. Bent so far over, and guided back by the hands on her arms, meant James could slam deeper into her, until she ached from the feel of his cock pressing into the back of her cunt. Hard, wet smacking sounds echoed in the dark alley every time he rolled his hips into hers, along with the crisp tinkling of his metal armor.

Every time their bodies crashed together, James grunted and Abner sighed the softest moan she could manage. The sounds of the busy, chaotic Val Royeaux bazaar trickled down the alley and she grinned to herself, reveling in the dirty secret they were hiding. Her arms started to burn with a mild sting where his powerful fingers dug into her, and she was contorted in such a way that her back and legs were quickly fatigued. She subdued to him further.

“I bet you want me to fuck you in the middle of the bazaar like this, don’t you?” His voice rumbled low and lustful. A louder moan escaped Abner’s panting, parted lips. “Ah-ah.” His dangerous whisper warned, accompanied with two even harder thrusts. “You said you’d be quiet.”

Abner could barely take it any longer. The feeling of him ruthlessly pounding into her, combined with the busy city only steps away, and his aggressive speech, made her quickly come undone. Soft cries ripped from her ragged throat as she tightened around his cock, her muscles clenching and firing with pleasure throughout her body. She heard him quietly moan a couple _good girls_ before his thrusts slowed and grew even more powerful.

It wasn’t long before James was hissing through clenched teeth as he spilled inside her. He released her arms one at a time, and she fell forward, catching herself against the stone landing. James gripped once more at her hips and pumped into her a few more times as he rode through his orgasm, a long moan emanating from his chest that sounded like rolling thunder.

He stayed there, seated inside her sex, for a few moments as they caught their breath. Abner let out a few, satisfied hums as he softened, enjoying the feel of his warm body pressed against her ass.

“What’s that word you say? Jesus? Because... _Jesus_ , that was great,” Abner said breathlessly. Her body sagged, held up only by her fingers gripping the edge of the stone in front of her and James’s firm hold on her hips. What she wanted to do was collapse on her knees in spent bliss, but she held herself up with what little strength she had left.

James chuckled and lightly patted her ass before gingerly sliding out of her. She stood upright, though her legs felt weak and her core ached. In a daze she turned to him while pulling her leggings back over her hips. She watched him tuck his cock back in his leather breeches with a lopsided grin on his handsome face.

“That wasn’t...too much?” James asked. He knitted his eyebrows, dropped his chin, but his smirk was still present.

Abner wobbled backwards, bumping into the cobblestone landing, then relaxed back to lean against it. “No,” she said, her chest still heaving a little from pleasant exhaustion. “No, not at all.”

He stepped forward then, cupping the side of her face in his hand. Grazing his thumb against her cheekbone, his extraordinary eyes bore into her with a softness that made her breath catch. He was so beautiful, and the way he bent down and kissed her softly, so unlike the rough way he had just taken her, left her melting.

Even though Abner had set this up to be quick and dirty, James still managed to make her feel _cherished_ . It wasn’t a feeling she was used to, but she found that she was growing addicted to it. This man did things to her. Things that made her mind balk and recoil, but that her heart ached for, and why it kept urging her toward him. She _needed_ this feeling. She needed _him_.

That realization scared her, though, and she broke their kiss. As she pulled away from his tender, soft lips, she looked down and cleared her throat. Ducking around his body, her legs still fatigued, she bent down to pick up her gear, still fearing she might collapse.

“Are you okay?” she heard him ask, his voice back to that soft kindness she’d grown to expect from him after their encounters.

“Yeah, I just...I have to go,” she said and felt a sting in her chest. She sniffed and rubbed any emotion she might be showing off her face. Placing her weapons back in their homes around her body, she turned back to him while forcing a smile on her face. She hoped he wouldn’t detect anything else in her eyes. “I’ve got some assholes to visit.” She tried to sound light, confident, worry-free.

“We’re never in the same place at the same time,” he said and bent down to pick up his gloves. He looked up at her face hopefully. “Will I get to see you again, or…?”

She looked down and felt a real smile overpower the fake one. The idea of seeing him again made her happy. “Yeah, maybe.” She locked eyes with him as he stood and winked. “If ya play your cards right...but oh wait, yer shit at cards.” She grimaced and sucked air through her teeth in a mocking gesture.

“Ha-Ha, very funny,” he said with a roll of his eyes. But he smiled, then looking over his shoulder. Glancing back to the busy streets of the bazaar, she saw that slight flare to his nostrils. He was probably worried about where his group was, and what lie he was going to have to tell to cover his ass. However brief their time was, James had still vanished while on escort duty.

“Go,” she said, wrapping her cloak around her shoulders. He turned back to her, hesitating. That thoughtful, gentle look about him resonated in his eyes. Abner slipped her mask over her face, glad it hid the emotion she let fall there as soon as the metal settled.

Feeling the strength returning to her legs, and knowing she needed to go regardless, she released James from his hesitation. “I’ll find you,” she said. It was true. She needed to see him again.

Abner stole one last moment so she could take in one last look of him, then quickly turned to disappear deeper into the old, dirty alley.

\--

James hunched over his dinner, shoveling bread and cheese into his mouth, famished after the day walking around Val Royeaux. The Antivan noble he was guarding had dragged his escort all over the city, and when they stopped for lunch, James had been tasked with watching the entrance to the restaurant, with no time to eat himself. A punishment for disappearing earlier that morning.

But James smiled at the thought, reaching for another croissant. He’d disappeared because of Abner, and her appearance was the most exciting thing that had happened to him in weeks. Just seeing her face would have been enough to raise his spirits, but the fact that she pulled him into an alley to have sex…

Apparently, they were going to be the type of friends that _did_ fuck.

He shifted in his seat, getting a little turned on by the thought. She was the first woman he had touched in months, since… well since he’d had her in the undercroft. His hand could not compare to the heat of a woman, and sex with Abner was by far the best he’d ever had.

He was still a little surprised with himself. He’d let her get under his skin in that alley. She’d infuriated him at first, but once they were at least somewhat hidden, and he had started touching her, stopping would have been near impossible.

At first, he’d just wanted to make sure she was quiet. As much as he wanted her, he couldn’t have risked getting caught, which was made even more likely considering the loud cries she often made when he fucked her. But when he covered her mouth, she’d gotten so wet from that little bit of roughness, and even wetter the more he took control. Her response was inspiring, and he found himself behaving in a manner he’d have never guessed he could... _before_. And after so long without a woman, it had nearly overwhelmed him.

It was almost overwhelming now, thinking about how Abner had looked bent over in front of him, her back arched and arms held back as he drove into her. James stuffed more bread in his mouth and tried to think of something else so he wouldn’t end up with an erection at the dinner table and surrounded by his colleagues - fellow soldiers, Barrow and Gael.

Like thinking about how he had weeks of escort duty left ahead of him.

That was enough to make James scowl, and he reached to take a long drink of wine, glancing at the other two men as they shoveled Orlesian bread, cheese, and stew in their faces. They laughed and joked with each other, but James wasn’t in the mood to join in.

Once the Antivan was done with his business in Orlais, they were all to escort the man back to Antiva. What the noble had done to deserve a contingent of Inquisition soldiers as his personal guard, James didn’t know, and frankly didn’t give a shit.

Why _he_ was included in the escort was less of a mystery.

James was convinced that it was Naomi’s fault. Naomi, who still worried and fretted about his safety, who was now _engaged_ to Cullen, and therefore had the influence to affect James’s own assignments. She did this. He just knew it.

Even if she hadn’t directly asked Cullen to send him on safer missions, James knew Naomi was much happier when he was tasked with this boring crap, and in return, so was Cullen.

He didn’t like being so annoyed with Naomi, so he was resolved, once he _finally_ returned to Skyhold, to have a word with his big sister. No matter how she felt about it, James wanted to be assigned with duties that _actually_ helped people.Not just as a body that only served as a symbol of influence flaunted in front of the Orlesian nobility.

James was still brooding over his misfortune in assignment when the door to the kitchen swung open with a loud, unsettling burst.His commanding officer, Slater, entered. The guy was a real piece of work, probably equally pissed about his assignment, but took out his frustrations on his men rather than finding some other outlet... _like fucking assassins in alleyways_...James hid a smirk to himself.

He and his colleagues rose to their feet, saluting the officer. “At ease,” Slater said gruffly, taking his seat at the head of the table. James returned to his chair, reaching for more cheese. They sat in silence for a moment, the once joking Barrow and Gael growing quiet now that their boss had arrived. Slater was straight-laced and no nonsense, and no one was relaxed when he was in the room.

“So, Westerkamp,” Slater said after a moment. “Do you have any further insight into your disappearance from the market earlier today.”

James swallowed the bite he was chewing and tried not to frown. “I told you, I thought I saw something in the alley. I went to investigate, to make sure it wasn’t an assassin.”

“And what did you find again?”

James tried not to grin, but it was hard... _really_ hard. “It was just a cat.”

“Cat indeed,” Slater grumbled. “Next time you think you see a _cat,_ kindly inform the rest of us.”

“Of course, sir,” James responded.

Slater returned to his food with a grunt, and James let out a long breath, hoping he was finished being rebuked. He was normally very attentive and steadfast to his duties. Slater really had no reasons to complain.

As the meal ended, and the men scraped the last bits of stew from their bowls, and drank the last sips of wine from their cups, Slater sat back in his chair. “The house has one more floor than we anticipated,” he informed the group. “Westerkamp,” he said sharply, causing James to snap his eyes to the man. “You’ll guard the top level tonight.”

James frowned. “I was supposed to have the night off,” he protested. He had been counting on it, too. He needed the free time in order to find Abner. He _needed_ to see her again. He couldn’t let that quick fuck in the alley be all he had of her until...who knew when? For all _he_ knew, she’d leave Val Royeaux the next day, and he wouldn’t see her again for months.

There was no sympathy in Slater’s hard stare, though. James knew his punishment for vanishing that morning wasn’t finished. “Perhaps next time you will consider that before you go off _chasing cats,_ ” the man sneered, and James withheld the groan he so badly wanted to release.

With that, Slater stood and left the room. James was a bit slower to stand compared to Barrow and Gael, and he bit his tongue, intensely wanting to tell his commanding officer where he could shove it...

As the door shut behind the man, and they were all free to relax again, James slouched back down in his chair. “This is bullshit,” he grumbled. “I haven’t had a night off in two weeks!”

“You did wander off while we were supposed to be guarding Moretti,” Barrow said.

“Yeah, and it wasn’t after some cat either,” Gael piped up. “I’m…afraid I may have mentioned I saw you getting pulled into that alley by a woman.”

James groaned and slouched down further in his chair. “For fuck’s sake, Gael, why would you do that?”

“Sorry,” Gael said with a shrug, though he was grinning. _The little shit._ “You know how Slater is.”

“Which is exactly why you shouldn’t be ratting me out,” James griped. “Now I’ll never get a night off. And a fucking ‘heads-up’ would have been nice, _dick_.” He glowered at his smirking colleague.

“Hey, it wasn’t just Gael’s fault,” Barrow said with a chuckle. The two men were obviously enjoying James’s plight. “You came out of that alley practically _glowing._ Slater never bought your cat story for a moment.”

“Yeah, if you’re gonna go sneak around with some woman, come up with a better story than following a cat.” Gael was full-on laughing now. “Then again, I guess maybe you were chasing pus--”

“That’s enough!” James snapped. The two men shut their mouths, but their shoulders still shook from stifled snickering.

James glared at the hecklers, then groaned and shut his eyes. He hadn’t spent much time coming up with a convincing reason for his disappearance, because he hadn’t thought he needed to. He had only been gone for what? Ten minutes? If that?

But now it seemed that he wouldn’t have the chance to find Abner again, and it soured his mood even further. Guard duty was the most boring, tedious thing he did, and now he had absolutely nothing to look forward to.

A few hours later, James found himself on the top floor of the mansion, pacing the hall and trying to stay awake. He’d already studied every painting and over-the-top gilded decoration lining the walls, and had begun counting the number of windows on the floor. Every now and then an elven servant scuttled past, but nothing else was out of the ordinary.

There was no reason he had to patrol these ridiculous halls. Beyond the fact that there were other places he’d rather be, James highly doubted that anyone would be interested in assassinating this particular noble. It made taking his job seriously even harder.

However begrudgingly, he was determined to try. If Slater decided to check up on him in the middle of the night, he didn’t need to give the officer any more reason to punish him. Maybe, if he was lucky and didn’t make any more mistakes, he would find himself with a night off in a week or so.

But it would surely be too late to spend that time with Abner, and James felt his heart sinking lower every time he circled the floor. He wondered what she was doing. She did say she’d find him, not the other way around, but he wondered if she had been serious. Not that there was anything he could do about it anyway, since he was working. Still, he wasn’t sure when it came to her, still a little surprised every time she showed up. He was incredibly happy when she did, but it wasn’t something he expected from her.

He finished a tenth circle around the house and stopped his wandering, leaning back against the wall with a groan. It was going to be a long, _long_ , boring night.

He was starting to doze when he heard a sound from the end of the hall. Immediately on alert, he approached cautiously with his hand on his sword, ears pricked for any further sounds. He saw a shadow shift in the moonlight, and pulled his weapon from its sheath. _Maybe tonight won’t be so boring after all…_

And then, the figure stepped fully into the light, revealing Abner’s beautiful and grinning face. Her petite, lithe frame was entirely encased in tight, black clothing. Her dreaded hair was tied back into some kind of twist, nose ring glinting in the light, and strapped into some kind of low-cut corset that pushed her breasts temptingly skyward.

He stood straight, mouth dropping open slightly. “Abner? What are you doing here?”

She slipped closer on silent feet, her smile broadening. “I said I’d find ya!”

“Shhh,” James hushed. She stopped a pace away, and his eyes were immediately drawn to her low neckline.

“Not glad to see me?” she teased, placing her hands on her hips and shifting her weight to one  side.

James couldn’t help but smile. “Of course I am…but how’d you get in here?”

She laughed. “Seriously? A few slow, dumb warriors can’t keep me out.” She stepped closer and slipped her hands around his waist, pressing her stomach against his crotch. Propping her chin on his breastplate, she smiled up at him. James immediately started to get a little hard, feeling her pressed against him, memories of the alley flashing through his mind. Abner giggled when she felt him moving against her, and squeezed him harder. “I came for some more cake,” she said softly, seductively.

James groaned a little. Why did she have to come here? Why couldn’t he have had the night off to meet her somewhere more _appropriate_ ? “Abner… I’m _working,_ ” he whispered.

She snorted. “You were working earlier, too.”

“Yeah, and I got in _trouble_ for that.”

She opened her mouth to respond, but before she could say anything footsteps started moving down the hall. The owners made no move to hide the sound, and soft Orlesian words preceded their arrival.

“Fuck,” James whispered, pulling Abner away from his body and herding her toward a door. “You need to hide.”

She giggled, and before he could close the door on her, pulled him into the room. She deftly closed and locked the door behind them, and spun on her toes to wrap her arms around him from behind. Sliding one hand down the front of his pants, Abner gently squeezed at his cock through the fabric.

James moaned, louder than he intended, and reached out a hand to rest against the wall, suddenly finding that he needed the extra support. “Jesus, Abner,” he rasped. His head went a little hazy as she started she stroking him, blood rushing between his legs. “We…we can’t here…” But she was working at him consistently now, and he couldn’t keep his cock from hardening and pressing into her hand.

“Don’t tell me you can fuck me in an alley, but not a bedroom,” she said through a laugh, and started to pull on the ties of his breeches.

James let out a long breath. He knew he shouldn’t…knew there was a decent chance they’d get caught and he would have to deal with Slater’s ire… But as Abner slipped her hand inside his loosened breeches and rubbed his cock, he decided he didn’t care. He’d been wanting her all night, been disappointed that he wasn’t going to see her, and then like an answered prayer she had appeared.

Taking her hand from inside his pants, although he just ached for her more when he did so, James turned around and wrapped his arms around her body. Pressing her back against the door, he rolled his hips against her stomach, drawing a small sigh from her lips. “I could fuck you anywhere,” he growled.

She bit at her lip, her eyes dark and full of lust as she looked up at him. James glanced over his shoulder, seeing that they were indeed in a bedroom. He agreed that they might as well make use of the bed, if they were going to have sex while he was on duty. But before he could move them, the handle to the door started to jiggle. They both froze as a muffled Orlesian voice asked, “Est-ce que quelqu'un y est?”

He panicked for one moment, his heart starting to race. Then as the sound of clanking keys passed through the door, James grabbed Abner’s hand and pulled her deeper into the room, toward the only other door. Opening it revealed a closet, and they piled into the small space just before the main door swung open, and a pair of elven servants peaked inside.

James left the door to the closet slightly ajar, and watched with held breath as they walked a few steps into the room. “Je pensais avoir entendu quelque chose.”

“Moi aussi,” the other one whispered.

James glanced down at Abner, and found her grinning, her eyes sparkling brightly in the light peaking through the door. She caught his eye and smiled more broadly, bringing a finger to her lips. But James didn’t need to be told to stay quiet. He had no intention of getting caught.

“N'est-il pas censé être un gardien à cet étage?” the first elf asked nervously, wringing her hands.

“Il était là plus tôt,” the other responded, then backed out of the room. “Allons, allons le trouver.”

The door closed and James relaxed. He looked back at Abner and found her shining, wild and vibrant in the light and with their secret. She looked up, biting her tongue between her teeth, crinkling her nose, and giggled. James chuckled back; he was _definitely_ going to get in trouble for this, but he didn’t care. Abner made him feel alive after the tedium of this assignment, and he was going to get as much out of her being with him as he could.

He bent down and wrapped his arms around her body, lifting her up with ease. He pressed her back against the wall and crashed his lips against hers. Abner’s legs twined behind his and she began to grind against his cock, wrapping her arms around his neck and opening her mouth so she could tangle her tongue with his.

James moved his arms down and started opening her pants. “We need to hurry,” he said breathlessly, kissing his way down to her neck. Abner held herself up with her arms and legs, moaning as he rocked against her. “In case someone comes looking for me.”

She laughed, bright and cheerful. “Then put me down, so I can get these off,” she giggled.

James gave her a final kiss on the lips before lowering her to the ground. She immediately began stripping her tight leggings down and off a leg while James reached for his own pants, undoing the final ties and opening the front so he could pull out his cock, already stiff and straining for her body. Abner reached for it, stroking along his length and urging him back toward her. James rolled his hips through her curled hand, humming with pleasure at her firm grip, groaning softly when she circled her thumb over the head.

Then she ducked and took him in her mouth, sliding her tongue along the underside as he disappeared between her lips, her hands wrapping around and gripping at his ass. James grunted and reached for a handful of her dreads, guiding her as he gave his hips a few gentle thrusts. He began to tremble at the sensation of her hot, wet mouth around his cock.

“Fuck, Abner, “ he breathed. “That feels so good.”

She hummed, then pulled herself back, lips smacking with a popping sound as she released him. She slid her hands up his body and reached for his neck, pulling herself up with a wicked smirk. James cupped her ass and lifted her back up, settling her heat against his cock. He lifted his hand to his mouth to pull off his glove, and slipped his hand between their bodies when it was free. He found her heat and started working along her cunt, easing his fingers inside her entrance. She was wet and swollen, and he sank himself into her body with ease.

She threw her head back, biting at her lower lip. She sighed when he pumped a few times along her walls, and brought one of her hands to the front of her corset, pulling it open with a few good tugs at the laces. James watched with rapidly increasing breaths as she exposed her breasts, arching her back so they were presented even more enticingly to his eyes, her nipples dark and pearled.

James bent down and took one of the beckoning peaks in his mouth, sucking hard while he gripped his cock and lined himself up at her entrance. He slipped the tip into her heat, then grabbed her hips and pulled her down onto him with a quick, hard thrust.

Abner let out a startled gasp, followed by a sharp moan when he lifted her up and slammed her down again. Her cunt clenched around him, and James nibbled lightly on her nipple as he increased his pace. Abner grabbed his hair tightly and pulled herself into his body, her back pressed into the wall.

“Harder,” she moaned, her legs clenching around his waist. “Fuck me _harder,_ James.”

James growled and readjusted his grip on her hips, so that he could more easily move her body along his cock. He thrust up into her every time he pulled her hips down, pounding into her fast and deep, making Abner let out small, needy groans with every snap of his hips up into hers.

He moved to her other breast and sucked just as ardently, taking as much as her full, soft breast into his mouth as he could, while he ran his tongue over her nipple. He loved the slight taste of salt from her body, and soon her skin and his lips were slick from his attentions. Abner pressed into him, seeming to grow even wetter around his cock when he nipped her with his teeth.

His entire head was in a haze. The hot, slick way she encompassed his length while he drove into her made him delirious. The scent of her sweat and arousal filling the small space flowed into his lungs with each of his panting breaths. The gasping moans of pleasure, along with the wet, slapping of their bodies together, was wonderful in his ears.

He should have pulled her into this room the moment she showed up. He would not make the mistake of hesitating again, work and responsibilities be damned.

He was completely, utterly addicted to her; to her body, her laugh, her very presence.

James opened his eyes and glanced up toward her face. Her eyes were closed, her mouth dropped open wide as she rode her pleasure. The sight made his entire body tense, and he knew he would not last much longer.

He moved her hips until he found an angle that made her groans emanate deep from her chest. He moved faster, pulling away from her breast and pressing his forehead against her shoulder, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth.

He was trembling when she came, her voice crying out loudly and her nails scratching at his neck. James moved quickly, pressing his lips to hers to swallow her exclamations. He moaned himself, muscles in his core tightening and clenching while he followed her with his own orgasm. He spilled hot into her cunt, pulling her down around the entire length of his cock while he came. He felt her shaking as he slowly calmed, her legs around his waist going limp.

When he felt steady enough, he pushed away from the wall, lifting Abner’s body off of his spent cock. The cool night air immediately cooled his slick, exposed skin, and once he was sure Abner wasn’t going to fall off her feet, he tucked himself away.

He _knew_ he was going to be disciplined for this. There was no way his absence from the hallway would go unnoticed, and who knew what those servants were spreading around. But he really didn’t care. He had been going crazy in his position, and Abner showing up had made that even more clear.

It crossed his mind that it _was_ probably a good thing that Naomi was with Cullen. His job was likely more secure because of it.

He chuckled to himself thinking of Naomi, and the irritated thoughts he’d had earlier about his sister. And if he hadn’t been in Val Royeaux that day, he would have never been able to fuck this incredible woman in an alley and a closet. He snickered more at the thought, at the slight absurdity of it all.

Abner looked up at him with a smirk while she pulled her leggings back into place. “What’s so funny?”

James shrugged, retying his pants. “I was blaming my sister earlier for my boring assignment, but I realized that it might be her that saves my job. Since I’m obviously going to get in trouble _again._ ”

Abner giggled, and started putting her breasts back into her corset. “If she’s the reason you’re here, then I might need to give her a kiss,” she mused while tightly lacing the bodice, her breast mounding over the top. “So what was your punishment for earlier?”

“This,” James said, reaching for his hair and pulling it out of its ties. Abner had thoroughly messed it up during their embrace. “I was _supposed_ to have the night off, but was put on duty all night instead.”

Abner snorted. “I don’t see why. No one gives a shit about that flouncy noble.”

“Tell me about it,” James grumbled. “The most exciting thing that’s happened since we started guarding him was a broken wagon wheel.” He pulled his hair back into its half-up style. “It’s bullshit. I signed up to fight so I could actually help people. But now that Corypheus is gone, all I’ve done is chaperone these fucking nobles. It doesn’t help fucking anything.”

“That’s pisspoor luck,” Abner agreed.

James sighed. “What about you? How was…whatever you went off to do?”

Abner let out a long breath. “Oh, it was shit. Their fuckin’ dog smelled me - no thanks to _you._ ”

James crossed his arms. “Hey, _you’re_ the one who insisted we fuck in the alley. It’s not my fault you ended up smelling like sex.”

Abner grinned. “ _You’re_ the one who actually did it.”

James just shook his head with a chuckle. The moment she’d shown up and started stripping he really hadn’t had a choice. Her presence woke an instinct deep inside him, a need to have her. This most recent romp just made that even more clear.

“Well, it almost blew the whole damn thing,” she continued, peaking out into the empty room. She swung the closet door open. “Since when do Orlesians have dogs, anyway?” She stepped into the room. “But it worked out in the end. I shoved the beast behind a door, and while it was barkin’, and they came running out…” Abner glided her hands together with a sharp grin. “Took care of it.” Then she shrugged and frowned with a mock sulk. “Bastard bit me though.”

James frowned. “The dog bit you?”

She snickered. “No...one of the tits who owned it!” She lifted her arm and pointed to a crescent shaped scar on her skin. “Could only find some novice healer. Now I’ll have this forever.” She pulled her arm back and inspected the scar, then grinned. “But it’s kinda like a souvenir.” She looked up at him with sparkling eyes and nudged her elbow into his side. “Never forget today now, so I guess it’s not all bad.”

James smiled. “Yeah…I’ll never forget the day I lost all credibility and was revoked of any nights off for the rest of my career with the Inquisition either!”

“Ah, it won’t be that bad,” Abner cooed. She reached around and patted his ass. “Maybe they’ll just take you off guarding frilly nobles. Find you something more exciting to do.”

“More likely I’ll be sent to the Western Approach.” _And then I’ll_ never _see her again..._

Abner laughed, but before she could respond James heard muffled voices beyond the door. Abner skipped toward the window and slipped it open, swinging her leg over the lower sill. “Just tell them you were beating one off,” she whispered with a sly grin. Her eyes swept over his body. “Big, strong man like you? They can’t blame you for needing a release every now and then.”

And then she was gone, slipping out and down the wall. James swallowed, a little turned on seeing how lithely she moved.

Then the door slammed open and any thoughts of Abner and her body were scattered. Slater stepped into the bedroom with a hard glare on his face, the light from the moon casting harsh, sharp shadows over his face.

“Westerkamp!” he bellowed. “What are you doing away from your post? _Again_!”

James stood up straight, towering inches above the officer. It was hard to be too intimidated by the man, given their size difference. But James was still bound by the confines of the chain of command. Still…he decided to take Abner’s advice. A straight lie obviously hadn’t worked earlier “I...felt the urge to masturbate, sir.”

Slater’s mouth dropped open in shock, clearly not expecting that answer. Then he closed it shut with an audible clack of his teeth. His nostrils flared with anger. “Resume your station!” he yelled. “This will not go unreported to the Commander.”

James suppressed a smirk, thinking of what Cullen would look like when he received that report...

“And you can kiss the rest of your free time goodbye, Westerkamp!” Slater added as he turned on his heels and stomped into the hall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Via Tumblr, @mappelstrudel requested the locations of the first two sex scenes, and @theblackdomino requested the closet! Thanks guys!
> 
> Translations:  
> God verdom het Abner, je bent zo strak! = God damn it Abner, you’re so tight!
> 
> Ó, ríða James! Ekki hætta! Ekki hætta! Haltu áfram að kæla mig! = Oh fuck James! Don't stop! Don't stop! Keep fucking me!
> 
> Est-ce que quelqu'un y est? = Is someone in there?
> 
> Je pensais avoir entendu quelque chose. = I thought I heard something.
> 
> Moi aussi = So did I
> 
> N'est-il pas censé être un gardien à cet étage? = Isn’t there supposed to be a guard on this floor?
> 
> Il était là plus tôt. Allons, allons le trouver. = He was here earlier. Come on, let’s go find him.


	4. Jealous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time has passed, but memories have not, and this casual little arrangement begins to spur the painful sting of jealousy.

 

 

 

James sipped from his glass of whiskey and listened to Blackwall tell of how he first met the Inquisitor. He had been in the Hinterlands, teaching others to defend themselves, when Samahl’tu arrived, seeking information about the Grey Wardens.

Of course, Blackwall hadn’t actually been a Grey Warden at the time. He’d deceived them all for years, and when the truth came out, James had been furious. He had trusted the man, learned from him, and knowing it had all been a ruse…

It had taken months before James could speak to him again, and even now he was working to rebuild their relationship. Despite the lies, he could not forget everything they had been through, and Blackwall was a warden now… it was worth giving him a second chance.

James talked next, about his own recent travels. He’d only returned to Skyhold the day before, after travelling to Antiva and back. The rest of the journey was as tedious as the first part, and James was relieved to finally be back. He was encouraged as well, after speaking with Naomi. As he suspected, she had not explicitly said anything to Cullen, but she promised now to mention something. James could only hope he would be doing something more interesting in the future.

Blackwall finished his drink and stood to get another. James sat back against his bench, taking another sip of his whiskey, and looked over the crowd. It was slow, with barely half of the tables occupied. But the night was still young, and James suspected things would pick up.

He was still waiting when he saw Blackwall had gotten caught up in a conversation with another soldier across the room. James sighed and wondered if his company had forgotten him. His gaze drifted around the tavern, and then he saw her. Half-hidden by the stairs, sitting at the bar, Abner was back in Skyhold as well, and James’s heart skipped a beat.

He slid across the bench he was sitting on to get a better view, his body floating. He was already tipsy from the drink, and the sight of Abner dressed in tight leather pants and an oversized shirt, sent him into a deeper spin. He had thought of her so much in the month they were apart, her image coming to his mind at night when he had nothing but his own hand for company. He couldn’t see the curves he knew were under her clothes, but he didn’t need to see to know how her waist dipped below her breasts. He could still vividly remember how she felt beneath his hands, and how she looked entirely bared to him.

It had been months since he had seen her naked, he mused as he watched her. They had been together in Val Royeaux, but it wasn’t since their night in the undercroft they had stripped down to their skin. It was something he wanted remedied. Tonight.

Abner was talking to a tall, generously curved blonde woman at the bar. Striking as the other woman was, James couldn’t take his eyes away from Abner, enraptured by the curve of her lips as she smiled. Heat was already pooling in his stomach, and he decided to approach her, to let her know he was also in Skyhold. She hadn’t seen him yet, and he hoped to surprise her, as she had surprised him in the Val Royeaux bazaar…

But before he could stand, Abner reached out her hand, placing it on the thigh of the blonde woman she was talking to. Abner smirked, seductive, and tipped her head down slightly in order to look up at the taller woman through her lashes. James could see the way Abner was looking at the woman, glancing down her generous curves. He could hear her beautiful laughter, now directed toward another, floating through the room. Abner shifted her hand a little higher and James’s entire body flushed with heat. And not the pleasant sort of heat that came with heightened arousal and the desire for an intimate embrace.

Abner was flirting, just as she flirted with him the night they met. She asked the blonde something, watching her expectantly with an eyebrow quirked toward the ceiling for an answer.

She had asked the other woman to spend the night. It was so similar to how she had propositioned him, and James’s body tensed. He was far too hot, and he couldn’t get the image out of his head of the two women walking out of the tavern together, leaving him alone…

He didn’t want Abner to spend the night with that woman. He didn’t want her to spend the night with anyone else. He wanted her to be with  _ him. _

He was growing more and more upset at the thought, still watching Abner’s exchange. Then the blonde woman’s mouth dropped open, and she shook her head, pulling away from Abner’s hand. Abner backed away with a small shrug and a smile, picking up her drink and turning toward the rest of the tavern.

Her eyes landed on James, and her smirk turned into a full, wide smile. James flushed even deeper as she started to move, making her way across the room toward him. He recognized his discomfort as jealousy, and realized as Abner got closer how little reason he had to feel this way. They had nothing exclusive, had promised each other nothing. Yes, they had slept together a few times, but it was just as friends, when they happened to be in the same place. He had no claim on her…

She was smirking when she joined him at the table. James forced a smile back, attempting to hide the hot jealousy that was still coursing through his body. She had turned to him now, and he wouldn’t reject her like that blonde woman.

“Well, if it isn’t James fucking Westerkamp,” Abner said, leaning close and pushing her breasts up, her cleavage peeking through the top of her large shirt. James could see her nipples pearled and pressed against the fabric, and he swallowed thickly, his arousal sparking with her so close. She bit at her lip. “Good thing you’re here, night’s been rough.” She slipped her hand to his own thigh beneath the table and gave him a squeeze. “But yer better than all the rest combined. So… all worked out, yeah? Lucky me.” She waggled her eyebrows, and he could see the way her eyes were somewhat glazed from drink.

He couldn’t keep the smile on his face, try as he might. His jealousy surged again at the thought that she had been hitting on  _ multiple  _ people that night. And he had hoped she might want to catch up, before jumping right into talk of sex. But that was not her way, and James knew that. “Nice to see you too, Abner,” he said, reaching for his drink. He tried to hide the frown that had come over his face with the glass while he drank. He wanted to be happy to see her, not angry and jealous…

“Of course it’s good to see ya,” she replied. “That’s why I came over here.” James took another drink, and Abner sighed. “What’s yer problem?”

She was irritated, and James put down his glass, not sure how much to say. He didn’t want to drive her away, but he also wasn’t sure he could take seeing her with other people like that again.

“I just didn’t realize you were into women,” he said instead, hoping to avoid any talk of jealousy. He knew she wouldn’t like it. He had no right to be jealous of her, or who she slept with.

Abner looked over her shoulder, back toward the blonde woman who was now  speaking with a man. “Oh, Aurora? Apparently  _ she  _ isn’t… but yeah, I am.” Abner turned back and raised a single eyebrow. She narrowed her eyes, the pointed stare of the assassin sending a chill down his back. “Is that a problem?”

James immediately realized his mistake and blamed the alcohol in his body for slowing his mind. “No, that’s not… that’s not what I meant. I don’t care about  _ that.”  _ He was a little surprised, sure, but she could do what she wanted…

“Then what?” she asked, an edge still in her voice. She pulled her hand from his leg and sat back, putting distance between their bodies. He was losing her. Clearly, trying to avoid his jealousy hadn’t worked.

“I just don’t like seeing you with someone else,” he finally admitted. He tipped his head back and finished his drink, preparing himself for her scorn.

But nothing crossed her face aside from a brief flicker of surprise, and then her grin returned. She rose to her feet and slipped into his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. She stumbled a little while settling on his thighs, tipsy and clumsy like James. “Ah, Jim-Jams,” she purred, biting at her lip and looking smug. “You jealous?”

James rested his hands on her thighs, body flushing with heat. His head spun, alcohol and her presence intoxicating him. She was so beautiful, her dark skin glowing in the light of the candles, her eyes reflecting the same flames and burning into him. He could smell her when she was this close, leather and the drink on her breath. The heat of her ass pressed into his leg, and he ached for her hot skin rubbing against his.

But that would never happen if he made her want to leave. She seemed cordial enough now, but that could change in an instant. His jealousy was unwarranted, a betrayal of the agreement they had made in the undercroft. He knew she would have other partners… but he still fought against the part of himself that was unaccustomed to this type of arrangement, the part of himself that wanted her to be with him exclusively.

He pushed against that jealous instinct, and told her what she wanted to hear. Anything to keep her with him, at least for the night. “No,” he said, trying not to stare at the bronze curve of her full lips. He had missed her lips, and found it difficult not to kiss her right then. “That doesn’t mean I like seeing you flirt with some other person…”

His thought was cut short when she pressed her lips sloppily against his. One of her hands slid around to clutch at his jaw, fingers running through the scruff he had let grow a little too long on his journey. Her lips moved slowly for a few seconds, breaths falling hot across his face. He captured her bottom lip with his and sucked, overwhelmed by the soft sensations of her mouth and the warmth of her body pressed against his. Last thoughts of the blonde woman were driven away, along with his jealousy. None of that mattered now, because Abner had chosen him.

After a moment her lips left his and started to trail down his neck. She nipped at his pulse and James moaned softly. He slid his hands beneath her loose shirt, spreading his fingers along her lower back. She arched herself forward and James itched to feel more of her under his hands.

One of her own hands slipped between them, teasing at the curves and ridges of his body. James’s skin shivered under her touch, surging with a jolt when she glided her fingers over his crotch, cupping him through his breeches and giving him a gentle squeeze.

James gasped in surprise and spread his legs a little wider, allowing more room for the movement of his cock her action inspired. Abner chuckled against his neck. “You like that?”

“Yes,” James growled softly, adding the gravel to his voice he knew she liked, encouraging her to continue. He thrust his hips up into her hand, knowing it was wrong, to be doing this so exposed…

Her lips returned to his, more forcefully, biting at his with her teeth, then slipping her tongue inside his mouth. He was floating, high, driven to distraction by the motion of her mouth against his. He didn’t fucking care who saw…

She pressed harder against his groin, and started to stroke him through his pants. James’s heart was racing, and blood rushed between his legs. The sounds of the tavern fell away, and all he knew was the curve of Abner’s lips against his, the sounds of her elevated breaths mingling with his own, and the hand working at his hardening cock. He moved one of his hands to grip her ass, itching to get under the fabric, to feel her wrapped hot and wet around his cock.

She pulled away when he was far from satisfied, left hard and straining uncomfortably against his smalls. She cupped his cheeks and kissed up to his ear, tugging at the lobe with his teeth. “I want to feel you inside me,” she whispered, her breath falling into the shell of his ear and sending a shock through his body. James suppressed a strangled groan, his cock responding with a pulse of pleasure. He wanted to feel her too, finally have what he had been dreaming of since he saw her last.

Abner slid from his lap and walked away, her hips swaying beneath her oversized shirt. James waited one moment, hoping that his erection would subside somewhat before he stood. But Abner’s ass was too enticing, beckoning him to follow, and when she stopped at the stairs, turning to give him a smoldering grin and a wink, he discarded all thoughts of decency and followed her.

James lost sight of Abner as she moved up to the second level ahead of him. The balconies were empty, and at first, he did not see her. But when he stepped off the stairs her hand slipped into his from behind, and he followed willingly as she dragged him into a dark corner.

She turned and pushed him down into an empty chair, and James buzzed as she took control. Clumsily she straddled his lap once more, her face in shadow but her eyes catching the barest glint of the dim light rising from the floor below. “Here?” he asked her, and when she grinned, he smiled back.

“It’s darker than the alley.”

James chuckled and grabbed her hands to guide her more firmly over his cock, aching for friction. “It really is good to see you,” he says, brushing his lips against hers. “I’ve missed you.”

She dove into a kiss, and James’s face started to go numb as she licked at his lips. He forgot his concerns about being exposed, giving into the quickly intensifying heat between them. She rolled her body against his cock and he pushed his hands beneath her tunic, reaching up to cup her breasts. She breathed heavily into his mouth, the taste of ale on her tongue mingling with the whiskey on his own, and gasped when he found one of her nipples and gave it a hard twist. He loved, even more now, that she never wore a breastband…

After a moment the grinding of her hips against his cock had left his body little more than an aroused, aching mess. “I want you now, Abner,” he growled into their kiss, grabbing both of her breasts and kneading them roughly. “I wanted to feel you around my cock from the moment I saw you downstairs.”

She let out a soft moan and leapt off of him, staggering a little upon landing. She bent down and slipped the breeches off of her legs with a little shimmy. James watched her, breath hitching as her skin was revealed, and reached for his own pants. He tugged open the ties and released his straining cock. He stroked the length, encouraging himself into a full erection. He throbbed, a pulse of pleasure surging through his body as Abner crawled back into his lap, her lower half now bare. She reached between them and wrapped her fingers around him, joining in his stroking.

“Fuck, I’ve missed  _ this _ ,” she gasped. James let out a strangled response, words lost as Abner’s fingers scattered his mind. He grabbed her ass and lifted her up, centering her above his cock. The tip slipped into the soaking folds between her thighs, and he guided her down, hissing at the feel of her slick cunt finally,  _ finally  _ expanding around him, taking him inch by inch. It had been so long since he had been in this position, and everything was driven from him save the thoughts of her body..

Abner groaned when he was fully seated, and wasted no time in driving them higher. She moved, rocking and grinding herself on his cock, squeezing tight around him. Her lips left a trail down his neck, and then back to his lips. He kissed her deeply as they moved together, breaking away only to gasp for breath. Their hands ran over clothing, pulling their bodies close. James tried to keep quiet, swallowed his moans and held himself back from saying anything more. But it was so difficult, as the constant hug of Abner’s sex stretched tight around his cock sent him to the ceiling.

But Abner was not as quiet, and started to moan louder, a pulse of sound with every roll of her hips. “Fuck James, you feel so good,” she gasped, moving more ardently. She leaned back, her lips pulling away from his, changing the angle of her hips so that James saw stars. “So hard…”

James let his own head fall back, leaning against the wall, watching Abner as she started to grind faster. James guided her, held her up so that she could fall even further back.

She was stunning, her dreads loose and falling behind her shoulders, her eyes closed and lips parted. Her tunic was opened low across her chest, and while he longed to see her breasts exposed, there was something so erotic about the way he could only see the hint of her cleavage, and the peaks of her nipples pressing against the fabric, and knowing they had stripped only enough to fuck above the heads of those drinking downstairs..

Abner whimpered when he pulled her down harder, sinking, almost unbelievably, deeper inside her. She was clenched so tight around him, hot and wet, and her movements were growing frantic. She clutched at his shoulders, the sounds falling past her lips loud and lustful and desperate...

James felt his balls tighten and body clench, ready to come. He slipped his hand between them, seeking her clit, determined to drive her to pleasure before he was spent. He found the bundle of slick nerves and started to rub, circling and pressing into her until she was crying out in her strange language, arching further back. James groaned, any attempts at staying discrete thrown away at the sounds she was making. “Come for me, Abner,” he growled, barely holding himself onto the edge, thrusting his hips as best he could up into her. “Come apart…”

She keened, brows pinched and mouth opened wide, moving for a few more seconds. He moved with her, and when she finally came undone it was beautiful, her walls clamping tight around him. Her head fell even further back and exposed the line of her neck, and the pleasure he had driven her to was clear on her face. James groaned and let himself go, rocking a few more times into her, driving himself to follow her into orgasm with fire roaring through his body. He emptied himself with slowing thrusts, his body relaxing as he came down from his high. Abner went limp, and leaned forward, pressing slow, lazy kisses into his neck.

She laughed after a moment, the action sending pleasant vibrations through his still sensitive cock. “I’m so glad you showed up,” she said, biting at his pulse, then sucking on the bruise that was already healed. “I’d almost forgotten how good this was.”

James hadn’t. Their encounters were so far between, but one night with Abner sustained him for weeks. “It was a good surprise to come back to,” he agreed, lifting her up and off of his softened length. He could no longer care that she had been flirting with another woman. Abner had chosen him, rode  _ his  _ cock until they had been driven high and sated.

It was enough. It had to be enough. James would not ask more than she was willing to give, would not insist she remain faithful to him if they were to keep this up. And this was too good to lose over a little jealousy.

He tucked himself back into his breeches, his head light and spinning slightly. The sharp focus of fucking Abner had given way to the haze of alcohol. But he knew it would not last if he did not resume drinking soon, the elevated healing of his body chasing the alcohol from his system faster than most. When he stood Abner had not moved to pick up her breeches, and was instead waiting for him, the long shirt she was wearing falling down to her mid-thighs like a dress. Except, unlike a dress, it was clear she was in a state of undress, wearing nothing underneath…

“You’re not going to put those back on?” he asked.

Abner shrugged, smirking at him. “Why? I’m covered enough.” She waggled her eyebrows. “Besides, it will make getting undressed later easier.”

James laughed and stepped closer, running his hands up her arms. He bent down and kissed her, grazing his hands over her breasts, her nipples still peaked beneath the fabric. She was wild, free, constantly surprising and drawing him in with her fearless actions. Set let him touch her like this, fuck her like that… It was enough.

And talking with her would make the night perfect. He pulled back with a smile, and reached to cup her face. “Come on, I’ll buy you a drink. I want to hear what you’ve been up to.”

Abner smiled brightly, and his heart soared. She took his hand and led him back toward the stairs. James could hear the sounds of the tavern below, music and voices drifting into the rafters. The volume had risen, as if the crowds had grown. He flushed a little, realizing more fully, now that Abner was not on top of him, what they had just done, how reckless it had been. But Abner’s hand in his felt so good, and he couldn’t bring himself to care. He just wanted to spend more time with her, no matter what. His jealousy almost got in the way before, but that was passed. Abner was with him, at least for this night. It would be enough for him, and the thought of having nothing was too hard to bear.

\--

Abner sparkled.

She sparkled because James had that effect on her, and she’d grown to love it. She wanted that feeling. She  _ needed _ that feeling. She needed to be the radiant shine that she felt when he touched her, heard when he spoke to her, and saw when he looked at her.

She was too drunk to care about how dangerous that was. Too drunk to give a flying nug that she was supposed to avoid it. And she was too drunk to remember that everything...even this shimmering feeling... _ everything  _ was temporary.

Holding his hand with nothing on but a smile, her ridiculous oversized men’s shirt, and her sparkling skin, Abner led James down the stairs and back to the main floor of the tavern. Her smile grew bolder when she saw many eyes gawking at her lack of clothing, knowing that  _ they _ knew she had just been fucked senseless above their heads. Shrouded in the darkness of the vacant upper levels, she and James had been unrestrained...wild, with no thought for consequences or decency.

As Abner’s bare toes hit the wooden floor after the final step, her ears perked to a beautiful and familiar sound. The illustrious laugh of an old and dear friend emanated from behind her, back in the far corner of the room.

Abner spun a quick pivot on her toes to look past the stairway to that far corner. Their eyes met instantaneously, and Abner would have squealed...if she ever was the type to squeal. 

“Well fuck me sideways. Abner? Is that really you?” asked Isabela, a hand finding its way to fist itself against her hip as her head tilted to one side.

Abner grinned and yanked James’s arm in the direction of that back corner table. She pulled him behind her, hearing him stumble and yelp as she tore across the floor to her friend, and noticing then that Varric sat across from Isabela. Isabela the pirate. Isabela the beauty. Isabela...her former and frequent lover. 

“What are you doing in the mountains? There’s no sea port for days,” Abner asked. She shoved James down in the chair beside Varric and propped herself onto his lap, the skin of her bare ass and thighs rubbing against the rough-spun cloth of his breeches, her shirt falling down and covering just enough of her body to be half-decent. James’s arms quickly found their way around her waist and she enjoyed the sensation of her sparkle quivering for a brief moment. She nodded at Varric and the dwarf promptly winked in return.

“Oh, you know,” Isabela said with a wistful sigh, auburn eyes glancing toward Varric. “I needed to check up on the best chest hair this side of Thedas.”

Varric scoffed, “ _ This _ side?”

“I didn’t know you were also working with the Inquisition, Bers. And  _ who  _ is that?” A bronze finger on a heavily jeweled hand and arm pointed past Abner’s head to the slightly smirking, slightly bewildered man behind her.

Abner hummed a low purr of a hum, the kind filled with pride and desire. “Oh  _ this _ ? This is Jim-Jams. He’s a  _ real  _ good time.” A light pink flushed across his cheeks and up his ears. She twisted on his lap to pinch one of those cheeks, and he let a soft laugh pass through his nose.

“Well if he’s with you, he must be,” Isabela said in that sensual way Abner remembered the pirate spoke, the way that drove Abner wild.

Varric laughed at the obvious sight of James’s embarrassment spreading on his face, below the dark scruff of his short beard. “Aw, be careful with Whiskers, ladies. He flusters easy.”

James rolled his eyes. “Hi, I’m  _ James _ ,” he said, addressing Isabela after Abner released his cheek from her grasp. “And you are…?”

“Isabela,” Abner said. “Scourge of the Waking Sea.”

“A pirate?” James asked, awe tinging his voice. “You’re really a pirate?”

Isabela chuckled. “ _ Former _ pirate.”

The four of them talked and drank and talked and drank. Old friendships were caught up, new friendships were formed, stories were swapped, and rounds were bought. James seemed to drink close to double the amount of everyone else, but Abner attributed it to his size. He still seemed to float on their level of deepening intoxication. It made sense, she thought, after all...the mountain was larger than she and Isabela  _ combined _ .

Enjoying herself and surrounded by three of her favorite people in Thedas, Abner gave in to all of her wants. She leaned on the table, pressing her ass firmly into James’s lap, and angling her breasts toward Isabela. She made sure to wiggle enough to keep the bulge she felt beneath her hard and interested, and shivered at the way Isabela looked at her, and down her loose shirt. She loved the way Varric’s voice rasped as he spun tales that were surely exaggerated, and loved that when the storyteller left for the night, the conversations turned more... _ stimulating _ .

The pirate and the assassin teased and giggled until the warrior submitted to playing a childish drinking game. A game where they’d take turns admitting raunchy escapades.

“Okay,” James finally lamented, “but I’m not going to be any good at this. I don’t think I have near the stories you two have.” He squeezed Abner’s waist and tickled her sides as she laughed and squirmed in his lap.

“Alright then, Mr. Innocence,” Isabela said slowly as she leaned across the table. Her breasts pushed forward, luscious brown cleavage spilling from her tight cream sweater. Abner stared. Her mouth went dry. “For every story we tell, you can tell a  _ fantasy… _ ”

“Oh...Oh I  _ like  _ that.” Abner grinned slyly and leaned back to James’s ear. She licked the shell with a playful flick of her tongue and murmured, “Let’s hear what dirty things lie in that gorgeous head of yours.”

And so they did. They shared spicy stories with torrid details, and drank more and more. She matched Isabela, she’d lived James’s wildest dreams, and she drank spiritedly into the fuzzing night. 

She was surprised to learn some of James’s confessions, but proud that he opened up, and anxious to fulfil those deepest desires with him…

*****

“What in the Stone are you assholes doing in here?” Cabot’s angry yell jolted Abner awake. She immediately wished it hadn’t, discovering a mind-splitting pain pulsing in her head the moment her eyes shot opened.

“Put some fucking clothes on and get your asses out of here fast or you’re banned,” the barkeep growled and slammed the door shut behind him.

Soft sounds of sleepy grogginess grunted beside her. The pain was almost too much. “Maker’s balls,” Abner groaned, “did we drink the entire stock last night?” She sat up and smacked her dry tongue against the dry roof of her mouth.

“Don’t you remember?” she heard Isabela say. “We had to get this guy loosened up before he’d play with us.”

Abner painfully turned her head to find James’s pale, muscular ass next to her with Isabela’s bronze, shapely leg draped over it. Squinting as their bodies stirred, her brain slowly caught up to reality. She watched as Isabela’s hand appeared and slapped a playful smack across that pale backside.

She’d slept with both of them.

In the Herald’s Rest storeroom.

Flashes of blurry memories flooded Abner’s mind as she searched for answers. She cringed through the pain, because she had to try to remember. She saw glimpses of hazy images. Images of her kissing James while Isabela watched at the table. Images of her taking Isabela’s lockpicks. Images of kissing both of them in that storeroom. 

“You always bring around the sexiest friends to play with, Bers,” Isabela purred. Abner glanced over, noticing the tender way the other woman looked at James. They were still lying tangled together on the hard wooden floor amidst bags and crates of supplies. Isabela ran her fingers through his hair, and Abner saw enough of his face to catch the sweet, sleepy smile he gave the pirate when she winked at him.

The witnessed moment made a pit form in her stomach.

It was true. She and the pirate had a history of this sort of thing, but something about  _ this _ time wasn’t sitting well with Abner. Maybe it was the hangover, but watching them look at each other made her feel sick.

More flashes of skin and sweat-soaked memories raced through her mind. Isabela’s breasts bouncing, the metal pierced through her nipples glinting in the low light, and the shape of James’s hands gripping, imprinting his strength into soft, lusciously curved hips. The wet sounds of passion - in their sloppy, drunken way - rang through Abner’s mind. Sounds of Isabela’s keening while James spoke dirty things to her. Dirty things Abner had pulled from him first. Dirty things she wanted reserved for her. Only her. 

She felt her face fall to a scowl from the mixture of these memories, and the current visual of Isabela kissing James with a long, sleepy kiss. Their bodies still naked and tangled. Still on that fucking storeroom floor.

“Did you have fun, handsome?” Isabela cooed.

“Yeah,” James said, then cleared the sleep and desire from deep in his throat. “Yeah, I did.” Abner looked at him when she heard the twinge of embarrassment in his voice. He released the pirate from their body-knot... _ finally _ ...and turned over to sit up. He rubbed the back of his head in an adorable, awkward way. His long black hair was a mess, tussled and in his face.

James looked at Abner for the first time then, and she felt her body stiffen, caught in his uneasy bright-green and blue gaze.

She needed to just get the fuck out. She was feeling sicker by the moment. Whether it was due to the sight and thought of them, or the pain in her head - the drought in her throat...she had to leave that room. 

So Abner dropped his gaze and began looking for her things among everyone else’s. Quickly, she remembered that she’d had nothing but that stupid shirt. She wasn’t sure where or if she’d find her leather leggings, and she cursed herself for never keeping track of her shit.

If nothing else, the lack of a wardrobe allowed her to dress fast. She slipped the huge cotton thing over her head after she stood on wobbly legs. She took a quick, deep breath as the cotton guarded her face, and she looked at the two still on the floor with a forced smile. She caught sight of that mind-numbing, beautiful stare looking at her through straggly hair. A question was on his lips...it was in his eyes. 

“It was great,” Abner lied. “Glad you came ‘round, Izz.” Her eyes sank to the floor because it was all too much. She couldn’t handle any of this right now, she needed space. She had thought… She didn’t think… 

“Are you alright, Abner?”

His voice was too gentle, too kind. She didn’t want his sympathy, she just wanted to leave.

“I’m fine. Gotta go report. Got assignments.” She glanced at James again as she opened the storeroom door. Her heart hurt. That was wrong. It shouldn’t. She shouldn't… 

“Or, you know whatever… Just…yeah, okay. Have fun.” She shoved a smile on her face, slammed her eyes into  _ happy _ . “See you around,” she said and slipped out the door. She needed to get the fuck away from  _ that _ . 

All of that.

 

\-- **_2 Months Later_ ** **_\--_ **

James woke on a small cot in a small room, cramped and pressed against another body. He took a deep breath as he crawled from sleep, smelling the faint scent of sweat and the remnants of sex, and tightened his grip around the woman he was holding. She sighed, waking with him, and shifted so that her ass pressed back into his groin, against the slightly hardened length of his cock.

A lazy wave of pleasure moved through his body, and James let out a soft moan. The woman stretched, and as James blinked open his eyes, she turned. Slipping an arm around his waist and pulling herself close, she lifted her leg over his and smiled, letting out her own contented sound as she opened her eyes.

In the dim light streaming through the small window in a top corner of the room, James could make out the color of her pale blue eyes. Dark, graceful brows rose above them, and they were framed by coal lashes. The sight was beautiful, but it wasn’t who James most wanted to see next to him when he woke. Mayra was lovely, but he missed Abner’s lively, dark gaze.

Still, he kissed Mayra when she tilted her lips toward his, enjoying the soft way she moved them against his. Hers weren’t the hard kisses he had grown to love and desire, but they were still good, and he was liking them more and more each day.

He hadn’t seen Abner in over two months. It was the longest they had gone between encounters, and while he still looked for her and hoped she would return, he had been lonely. And Mayra’s return had changed that. He had run into the kitchen maid in the tavern, and for weeks they had just talked, over a drink, in the halls, in the courtyard… She had been his first, and James was still fond of her, even if things had not ended well the first time.

But he was willing to give them another chance. He didn’t want to be alone forever, and as he watched his sister and his friends moving forward with their own relationships, he remembered how much he wanted the same. He didn’t know when he would see Abner again, and their last encounter, a threesome, had been fun, but he knew it was nothing more.

So after a night of drinking with Mayra a few days before, he had ended up in her bed. And then again, and again, and now it had been four times. It was becoming a habit, and while James liked it, he also felt guilty. He thought about Abner more than he wanted when he was with Mayra. But he hoped those conflicted feelings would fade with time.

“Good morning,” Mayra said sleepily when she pulled back from their kiss.

“Good morning,” James responded, running his hands down the small of her back. Mayra giggled and bit her lip, pushing her hips forward into his cock.

“I see you’re ready for another go.”

James smiled back, but before he could answer a bell echoed through the fortress. Mayra’s eyes flashed open wide.

“Is that the time?” she asked with a gasp, scrambling up. James sucked in a breath at the cool shock of air against his chest and watched as she got up out of bed, watching her ass as she scrambled for her clothes discarded on the floor. “Cook’s going to kill me for being late…”

“Sorry,” James mumbled as he sat up himself, spreading his legs to ease the pressure on his half-hearted erection. “I shouldn’t have kept you up so late.”

Mayra just shook her head and started lacing up her dress. “It’s fine, I just need to go.”

James rubbed at his neck and yawned, waiting to stand in the small space until Mayra was finished frantically putting on her clothes. “Have a good day,” he said as she moved toward the door.”

Mayra just waved and slipped outside, leaving the door ajar as she rushed for the kitchens.

James shook his head and stood to get dressed.  _ What I wouldn’t give for a cell phone, _ he thought as he slipped on his smalls.  _ Mayra complains all the time about the cook’s sternness… she’d probably like an alarm clock or something to help wake her up on time. _

He tried to put her out of his mind as he went about his day, trusting she would not be in too much trouble. He met Blackwall in the ring for a morning of sparring, and then spent the afternoon training recruits. After cleaning off the sweat and grime from the day, he joined in the evening meal. He had finished eating, and was relaxing before getting up to enjoy his night, when he noticed from across the room a familiar set of dreadlocks piled high on top of a tattooed head.

Without thinking, James stood, moving across the room toward her. His heart was thumping, and his hands started to sweat. It had been so long since he had seen Abner, he almost couldn’t believe she was there…

But she was. It was her, and when he called out her name, she turned toward him and a wide smile spread across her face. James’s heart skipped. Her eyes were just as beautiful as he remembered. She was stunning, and warmth filled his chest. He had been worried about her, only now realizing just how much.

And he remembered the awkward way she had left him and Isabela in the tavern storeroom. Something had been off, and despite the fact that she had encouraged them all to sleep together, there was none of that flirtatious energy left in the morning. James had gone into that room because he thought it was what Abner wanted, and he had to admit he was curious and attracted to the pirate woman. But seeing Abner so upset had made him think the entire thing had been a mistake.

Part of him had wondered if she was avoiding Skyhold for that reason, but the excited look that fell on her face at the sight of him suggested that whatever had been wrong those months before, no longer mattered.

“I was wondering if you were around!” she said as she stood and stepped toward him, wrapping her arms around his waist when he reached for her shoulders.

“Man, it’s good to see you,” James said, hugging her tightly. He pulled back from the hug and looked down at her with a smile. “This place has been dull as rocks without you around.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve been here the  _ entire  _ time,” she replied.

James shook his head. “I don’t know what Cullen heard when Naomi told him I wanted better assignments, but apparently he thought that keeping me here training recruits was what I wanted.”

Abner drew a sharp breath through her teeth and smirked. “Rough luck there.”

“I did manage to get to Redcliffe for a couple of weeks,” James offered.

“Come on,” Abner said, reaching down and grabbing a pair of apples from a platter on the table. She tossed one to James and took a bite of her own, linking her arm through his. “Tell me about it while we walk.”

****

“...And then the poor guys smacked their heads together,  _ again _ , trying to scramble for their weapons while half blind.”

Abner laughed loudly. “Why were the mages training with the warriors at all?”

James snorted. “Some scaffolding fell down and cluttered up the mage’s ring. So they joined the warriors, and well… lightning is kind of distracting.”

“Well, they have to get used to it,” Abner said. “They may not realize it yet, but mages exist  _ outside  _ the Circles.”

“No kidding.”

James couldn’t stop smiling. Being with Abner always made him so happy, and he hadn’t been able to talk this freely,  _ complain  _ freely, with anyone in such a long time. His friends were always scattered around the continent, and he always enjoyed when he had the chance to catch up with any of them. But with Abner it was just better, easy and fun, and after an evening walking and talking with her, his loneliness had been pushed away.

She had been busy as well, bouncing from place to place under Leliana’s orders. In passing, she mentioned an encounter she’d had, a night spent with a stranger picked up in a tavern. James didn’t think she was trying to tease him, but he couldn’t stop the jealousy that twinged in his chest when she revealed another conquest. He tampered it down, reminding himself what he had decided not to care. At least tonight she would be with just him. No Isabela, no quick fuck in a dark corner. No, tonight he would have the time to be alone with her, the way he had wanted to for so long.

He was about to invite her back to his room when a figure approached out of the darkness. They had passed a few wanderers on their walk, but this was the first that had acknowledged them. James flushed, realizing who it was before the woman entered the light of a torch.

Mayra stopped a few paces away, her arms crossed over her stomach. “James,” she greeted, and he could hear the hurt in her voice. Abner’s arm was still hooked with his, and her hold tightened at the sight of the other woman. “Who’s this?”

James took a deep breath. This wouldn’t be pretty, he could already sense it. “This is Abner,” he introduced. “She works for L--” Abner pinched him hard, and James swallowed his response. With a small smile he tried again. “She fights. Abner, this is Mayra. She works in the kitchens.”

While he spoke, Abner gave a little wave with her free hand, and Mayra glared back at her, her lips drawn into a hard line. She turned her glare to James when he finished the introductions. “I see…” She shifted on her feet, and James could hear the heightened sounds of her breaths huffing through her nose. “Will I see you after your… walk?”

James swallowed, realizing just how wrong it had been to start anything with Mayra again. He was no more ready to commit to her today than he had been a few months ago. He was here now, after waking up in Mayra’s bed that morning, with another woman on his arm, a woman he was intending to spend the night with.

It was better he broke things off. “No,” he told Mayra, bracing himself for the anger that would surely follow. “Not tonight.”

Mayra’s eyes stormed, the blue disks reflecting cold and ice, and her voice was venom. “I should have known you hadn’t changed.”

James bristled. This was not entirely his fault. “That’s not fair,” he argued. “I never promised anything different.” He still travelled all the time, he still didn’t love her, and he had not promised anything more than fun…

Mayra’s arms were now crossed over her chest. “Well, have fun, James,” she said icily, and cast her eyes over Abner. “Don’t bother finding me when you’re finished with  _ her _ .”

She swept back into the night, the skirts of her dress fluttering around her quick feet. James’s body surged with anger at the way she had talked about Abner.

“Well,  _ she’s  _ something,” Abner said, and James could hear the smirk in her voice.

His anger was driven away by the ease of her voice, and he found himself smiling. A realization snapped into place, something about Abner that he had grown to love. He was always fighting with Mayra, usually about his constant travelling. In fact, that had broken them up in the first place. Mayra wanted stability, someone to settle down with…

But while it was something James wanted eventually, the demands of his duties made it impossible to be what she wanted. It was different with Abner. She was carefree and flexible, she travelled just as much as, if not more than James, and understood that he wouldn’t always be around. He was always on eggshells with Mayra, but Abner gave him freedom.

A large part of that freedom was because Abner was not his. She was her own person, free to pursue whatever, and whoever, she wanted when they were apart. He could not have one without the other.

He wanted whatever Abner was willing to give him, though he would push for it. He valued the little he got from her more than everything someone else could offer.

But he decided then and there that he was finished pursuing others. Until something changed with Abner, he would wait for her. It wouldn’t be fair to whoever else he might take to his bed.

“Yeah, she is,” he said, looking down at the woman next to him, and smiled. “But you’re something more.”

\--------

Abner sighed and squeezed James’s arm, prompting him to continue their stroll and they stepped into the open air of the gardens. 

“You don’t have to do that,” she said while looking forward. There was a twinge of jealousy in her heart from witnessing that kitchen maid and the obvious evidence that James had something with her. Jealousy that roused the memory of how she felt after their night with Isabela. But she had no claim on him. She’s never expected it. She’s never asked for it. It wouldn’t make sense to ask for it. She suspected a handsome man like him would have no trouble finding lovers to occupy his time. It was part of the reason she mentioned she did it too. No matter the fact that, at this point, she was only seeking comfort in others to distract herself from her deep longing for  _ him _ ...

“Do what?” 

“If you want to screw a kitchen maid, screw a kitchen maid. You don’t have to try to make me ‘feel better’ about it.” Her fingers quoted in the air to match the condescension in her tone.

James grunted and shook his head. “What? I’m not just trying to… So you’re saying, I could march around, fuck all of Thedas, and you wouldn’t care?”

“If that’s what you want to do.” It probably stung her more than it stung him. It was a lie, but she was so used to living it, that she didn’t know how not to. 

He cleared his throat. “Is that what you do?” 

Abner stopped dead in her tracks. She dropped her arm from his and stared up into his brilliant eyes. He wasn’t trying to hurt her, she knew that. But what was it he wanted from her exactly? What was he expecting?

“What do you want from me, James?” She thought of that kitchen maid and the frilly frock she wore, the hurt and anger in her eyes when she looked at them. “Do want me to be some swooning girl in a pretty silk dress? Flowers in my hair, fainting at your worship’s feet?” 

Abner’s knees buckled dramatically and she crumpled down in front of him. He caught her, because of course he did. 

The back of her hand laid listlessly across her forehead. “Oh, James, am I not the only one? I thought you only had eyes for me. What shall I do now? I am nothing without you…” She sighed and looked away, her body sagging into his arms even more. Feeling satisfied with herself, she smirked and glanced up at him through the corner of her eye. 

He gave her a perturbed but mildly amused look. “No,” he said, shaking his head. “I don’t want  _ that…  _ Though, I’d like to see you in a pretty silk dress.” There was a glint in his eyes, the curve of his lips drifted up to one side.

Abner stood upright. Her eyes dipped down his form and back up to his heated stare. “Would you?”

James grabbed her by the elbow and yanked her close. The air in her lungs froze and he whispered seductively into her ear. “Then I could rip it off you.” His other hand reached down to grab her ass and shove her body against his. A small gasp escaped her lips. “Or hike up your skirts in order to take you faster.”

Abner’s heart was racing, heat flooded and ignited itself throughout her body. She turned her head so that her lips grazed his as she spoke low and breathy. “You ruin my precious silk dress, I’ll break your nose.”

James growled a low growl. A kind of primal noise that thundered deep in his chest, like he wanted to take her right there in the middle of the garden. He closed what little distance there was between their lips, his searing grip still wrapped around her elbow, clenched around her ass. No matter what she told herself when they were not together, when they were tangled up in each other like this, she felt like she was  _ his _ . She wanted more.

He kissed her slow and powerfully, and she wondered if he kissed the kitchen maid like this. She wondered if he made everyone he slept with feel the way he made her feel. She wondered what effect she had on him - was it as strong? He’d brazenly made it known to that woman that he would not come to her that night. It seemed James preferred her to Mayra…and Abner wanted to ensure that he did.

Something in her wanted him to burn for her. Even though they rarely saw each other. Even though they slept with other people. Abner wanted James to think of her when he did. She wanted him to picture  _ her _ when he fucked someone else, even when he took himself in hand. She wanted James to ache for her in those long weeks when they were on opposite ends of the world. The same way she ached, and thought, and burned for  _ him _ .

Abner pulled away, enjoying the hooded, lustful air about him when she did. The gardens were dark and clear, and the candles glowing from the Chantry beckoned her to pull James in. 

She knew, though he didn’t, that they would not be spending the night together. She was to sneak from Skyhold in the cover of darkness and begin her next mission. This time, she would be gone for months. But she was going to give him an evening he would not soon forget. An evening that would show him how much he preferred her over anyone else who would warm his bed while she was gone.

Abner was still wearing light armor from her arrival at Skyhold that day. It meant her body was more covered from his eyes and hands than it should’ve been, and meant more layers for her to take off, piece by piece, to entice him. 

She took slow steps backwards, toward the Chantry, her nimble fingers working open the snaps and buckles of her thick leather corset. “Are you a good little Andrastian?” she asked, dropping her corset to the ground.

James dipped his chin low and grinned. “No. Are you?”

She slipped the knots free holding her bracers on and let them fall to the grass beneath her. She shook her head slowly. “No,” she said with a smirk.

Her feet stepped up the stairs easily, and she kicked off her already loose-laced boots with a flick of her ankles. James followed her as she backed into the Chantry. She adored the way the candlelight electrified the dark, hungry stare he gave her body. She pulled her tunic over her head and tossed it to the side, and James quickly spun around to shut the Chantry door, locking it behind them.

He turned to face her, but stood still, watching her unlace her thick leather breeches as she continued to back away. “Does your little kitchen maid fuck you like I do?” There was a playfully dangerous spark in her voice. 

Dark want rumbled in him as he watched her slip the leather down her legs. “No one fucks me like you do.”

Abner kicked the breeches away and settled her body at the base of Andraste’s statue, laying herself on long, shallow steps between droves of flirtatiously flickering candles. The light of the Maker was watching and burning with them.

With bent knees, Abner opened her legs to James, little by little. Fingers that started at her tongue cascaded down her body, between her breasts and over her navel. “Are you sure?” she asked. “Or do you need reminding?”

James cleared his throat and adjusted the neckline of his tunic when her fingers found the soft curls between her thighs. “Now that you mention it…” He grinned at her. “My memory does feel a little hazy. I think I could use a refresher.”

She circled her slick fingers around her clit and her breathing grew heavier as the pleasure shimmered through her body like electrified rain. She moaned and sucked on her lower lip. “Do you want me?”

James took a step forward. “Yes.”

“How much?”

“Jesus fucking Christ, Abner...I want you so badly.” 

She could see his chest rising and falling with an exaggerated pace as he watched her dip her middle finger into her cunt. Her toes curled and her head rolled back against the base of Andraste's stone skirts. “Show me,” she said through the breath of a long groan. Looking up at Andraste’s face, Abner wondered if she burned as bright as her...

James sprang into action. Ripping all of his clothing from his body in a hurried frenzy along the way, he raced to her feet. He dropped to his knees between her legs, and Abner halted him with the press of her toes into his shoulder.

“ _ Show _ me.”

He smiled and gingerly held her heel in both hands. His intoxicating eyes fixed on hers, he inched his adoring kisses up the delicate arch of her foot, down the slope of her calf, and over the tender flesh of her inner thigh. 

James situated his body below her, his mouth hovering over her active fingers, the heat of his breath thrilled her and she bit down hard on her lip. His strong arms wrapped around her thighs and massaged the flesh beneath them. His tongue darted out to flick at her fingers before catching them in his mouth. She swallowed a tight feeling in her throat, a strangled cry, as she watched and felt him lap up the taste of her.

Her entire body shuddered when his lips moved from her fingertips to her sex. His tongue glided and teased along her slick heat. “Shit, James,” she moaned and bucked her hips. 

Her hands reached behind his head to pull the tie that held his long hair back. She needed to see that tousled appearance from the tavern storeroom. She needed to see that used, savage look focused only on her. Beautiful black hair fell forward and she mussed it up in her fingers. He stared at her through the strands while his mouth centered on her clit and sucked.

His tongue began flicking at her impossibly fast. It didn’t feel human. It felt otherworldly and her body quaked beneath him. Loud shaky sighs fought their way from her throat as he sucked and flicked. Her nails dug into his scalp and she gasped half-formed words, words that got lost in the surreal, heightened feelings he drew from her.

One of his hands released her thigh to find its way to her opening, teasing her at first, merely grazing her soaking and erratically clenching cunt. Abner moaned louder and heavier, needing more. James hummed and grunted while he worked her, and she began to kick her legs, losing all control of her body as she squirmed and gasped under his attentions. She was so fucking wet that she could feel herself dripping past his fingers. 

He started to pump them inside her, and she was thankful and tormented by both the relief of the teasing and the new sensations. She clenched her eyes and mouth closed, bucking and writhing as he ravaged her. In his hurried pace, a finger grazed lower, accidently pressing farther back against the tight opening there. Abner keened loudly, her mouth shooting open and her hips rutting downward against that wayward finger.

“Yesyesyesyesyesdoitdoitplease!” It was an amalgamation of words smashed into one hissing plea. James ceased his ardent tongue flicking and looked at her, hesitating. The moment allowed her to break for an instant from the maelstrom her body was under. She choked for air and opened her eyes, pushing her hips down against that finger again. She nodded enthusiastically, words still too difficult to form from the roaring clouds of electricity in her mind.

James licked his lips and pulled his slippery fingers from her cunt, dipping his head and returning to work on her clit in the same zealous, insane, fanatical manner as before. Abner sucked air into her lungs through her teeth and held it, eager pleasure exploding into a frenzy once again. His fingers glided down and pressed lightly on the tighter entrance there, waiting for one more pass of assurance. She gave it as a scream of  _ yes _ through the release of her held breath and he slid his finger in. He won another deep inhale and a primal groan from her, and he pulled it out to then push back through. He worked her this way until she was seeing stars, the entire experience like one never ending, amazing orgasm. 

The way he made her feel sent her to  _ live  _ in the stars. He added a second finger, sinking them deep, and she was soaring through the constellations. She was ready. She wanted it. She needed it. “Fuck me there, James. Please,” she heard herself say from a distance. Her body squirming, it scraped against the stone below her, but she didn’t care; she couldn’t feel it, the pain didn’t register. She wasn’t even there. She was on the fucking moon.

His lips left her clit and she gasped for air and clarity again, but that was no good, so her fingers took the place where his lips had been. She darted her fingers vigorously over the nerves, dipping them inside herself, and James lifted her weak legs over his shoulders, settling the tip of his throbbing cock against her ass.

She opened her eyes to watch him. He was beautiful. A phantom of desire. She keened and pressed her ass against him. He hesitated, then spit from his glistening lips into his palm, stroking his hand over his cock in preparation. 

“You’re sure?” he asked, pushing a little harder against her. His voice had fallen so deep, scratching with desire and want.

“Do it,” Abner pleaded.

With that he pushed through, gently. Slow and cautious at first, but she unraveled beneath him. Trembling sounds of want emanated from her and echoed in the empty stone room, lifted high just as a hymn.

“Holy shit,” James hissed through hot, shuddering breath as his cock glided into her. He pulled himself out cautiously, then pushed in again. Gradually, he picked up speed, he thrusted deeper, he moaned heavier. His fingers dug into her thighs with bruising strength. He watched with hooded eyes as she touched herself, dipped into herself, all while his cock dove into her. 

“Yes.” Abner chanted the word over and over and over, steadily running to the edge of the moon. Her eyes glanced back up to Andraste and she smiled at the layers of blasphemy and smut erupting in that room of worship. There they were, at the feet of Maker and His bride, fucking and screaming and worshiping in their own hedonistic way.

“Do you like fucking me?” she asked, her free hand reaching to grasp his tense, sweaty forearm. The hard muscle under her fingers constricted further, and he dug into her flesh harder, grunting a ferocious sound through his thrusts into her ass.

“Come with me.” It was a command, not a request.

And he followed it. Swiftly pulling out of her, she felt his hot seed splash on her stomach as she launched herself from that perpetual feeling of ecstasy into another plane of existence. They rode out their shared orgasm, her fingers still lightly rubbing her sex, the backs of her eyelids glowing with bright white.

They shuddered and laughed as they came back down, breathy little giggles of exhaustion and excitement passing their lips. Abner opened her eyes when the color calmed back down, and found James smiling at her, his face flushed and misted with sweat.

He looked at his hand and her stomach. “We made a mess,” he said through deep, throaty chuckles.

“Oops.” She smiled and shrugged her shoulders. Her hand idly stroked the forearm she once dug her nails into.

On wobbly, tired legs, James rose to find his shirt. Bringing it back to wipe her stomach and then his hand, he shook his head and tried to catch his breath. “That was…” he began as he cleaned their heaving bodies.

“Amazing,” she finished.

He sighed, a long contented thing, and chucked his shirt across the room. “Yeah.” Stretching his arm down to her, he helped her up, but then surprised her by lifting her higher so that she could wrap her legs around his waist and crash their lips together. 

James kissed her ardently, the scent and taste of her sex coated him. He rested his forehead on hers and closed his eyes, humming peacefully in their steamy embrace. His hand stroked her back, finding the nicks and cuts and scrapes the grinding against the stone produced on her body.

Looking at her with alarm he set her down to spin her and survey the damage. “Abner,” he said, appalled. “Your back...it’s all torn up. Why didn’t you say?”

“S’nothing.” She shrugged and swatted his hands away, her own legs still unsteady. “Worth it.” She beamed and smiled up at him. It  _ was  _ worth it. What they just did was amazing...stellar...and undoubtedly something he would remember for months - if a few cuts was the price, she was happy to pay it..

She poked him in the stomach and looked down at his knees. “I bet your knees aren't any bet...ter…” Her voice staggered and trailed off when she saw not a mark, not even redness on the kneecaps that had just been digging into the stone beneath them while they rutted together. She looked up at him, puzzled, searching his sheepish eyes for answers.

“I have tough skin, what can I say?” He shrugged, and his eyes dipped away from hers. He was lying. He was hiding something. 

Abner watched him closely as James awkwardly gathered his trousers and smalls and boots and crumpled up soiled shirt. He avoided eye contact as she stared at him. Something was up with this man. 

She thought of the other times he should have been bruised and scraped...shit, he was warrior who’d seen enormous battles…he sparred regularly. Why did he not have scars? Why did he never even have a bruise?

“Where did you say yer from again?” She asked, a shrewd stare watching every muscle of his at once. Judging.

“The Anderfels.”

“Mmm.” It was a noncommittal sound. He was still lying.

Abner sighed and fetched her breeches, shimmying her sweaty skin into the the tight leather with no small ounce of difficulty.

“Yer an interesting guy, James,” she said, slipping her tunic over her head. She would let him think he’s gotten away with his lying, but she decided to pay close attention to this resilient skin of his from here on…

James laughed under his breath while pulling his clothing back over his body. “You want to go get a drink or something? Maybe continue our walk?”

Her heart flushed bright and she smiled, quickly forgetting her suspicions. He was so sweet, and she loved that about him. “Wish I could,” she responded. And she meant it. “But I’m leaving again tonight.” She stepped closer to him, placing her hands on his arms and arching for a kiss. “Think our fun here will tie you over until the next time we run into each other?” She swallowed a little when she realized that that sounded like she was asking for him to wait for her.

He leaned down to brush a kiss on her lips anyway, and she was grateful for it. No matter how he interpreted her question…she felt resolved to wait for  _ him _ . 

Perhaps her attempt to show him how much better she was than his other lovers only succeeded in proving that to her,  _ he  _ was the best...the only one that made her feel...feel…made her feel…….

“It’d be nice if it wasn’t just a chance meeting every few weeks...or months…” James said, pulling away from their kiss and resting his forehead on hers. He sighed a longing, wistful sound through his nose. 

She had an inkling that maybe he  _ wouldn’t _ visit the kitchen maid’s bed chambers again...and that brought back that glittering feeling he seemed to always place upon her. She liked it.

“I have to go,” she whispered, but she didn’t want to. She hugged him then, and lingered perhaps a little too long.

She walked back toward the door to the Chantry then stopped. Looking over her shoulder, she smiled at the gorgeous man who made her shine. “If you can convince the Lionheart to let you leave the stronghold again, and if you find yourself in Denerim sometime in the next few months...find me.”

“How would I--?”

“I’ll be the particularly attractive palace maid.” She winked and brought a finger to her lips, making a soft shushing sound with her breath. He smiled and nodded, and she turned to slink away into the night. 

Pausing one last time at the door as she opened it, heavy and rickety as it was, and she purred, “Take care of yourself, Westerkamp. I’ll be thinking ‘bout ya.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to @ma-sulevin and @theblackdomino for the location requests on Tumblr!


	5. Deeper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few more months, a few more feelings. These two find themselves slipping deeper into something that they never expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're back! Sorry for the delay, it is completely LadyD's fault. 
> 
> This is an especially exciting chapter, because usually Liv write's James's sections and LadyD writes Abner's sections.... but this time we switched it up! So Liv got to have SO MUCH fun with Abner's POV, and LadyD went banana's on some James.
> 
> Hope you enjoy, thanks for coming back and sticking with us!

 

 

Ash and dust blew into her face and Abner coughed. She wrinkled her nose and sat back on her heels, composing herself, before diving back into the fireplace. She swept up the cinders and partially burned pieces of wood into a bin, preparing the room for its next occupants.

For two months she had been stuck in the palace in Denerim, working as a cinder maid and keeping her ear to the ground. The Nightingale had heard rumors of plots against the King and Queen of Ferelden, and needed someone she could trust to watch things. That’s where Abner came in.

Abner didn’t like the work she was forced to do disguised as this cinder maid, but she’d at least routed out a couple of baddies that had been up to no good. Leliana’s worries hadn’t been completely unfounded, and Abner was happy, for now, that her time was not wasted.

Still, she was ready for something new, something to break up the dull trudge of cleaning out fireplaces day in and day out. She’d kept to herself for the most part, not wanting to draw attention to her mission, but that was growing almost unbearably dull. She didn’t mind being alone, but even she had her limits.

That’s the reason she was so excited for these visitors to arrive. The Inquisition was visiting the King and Queen, and with that came the chance that James was among them.

She was nearly done when the door to the room creaked open and another maid slipped inside. The girl’s name was Anne, and she swept quickly toward Abner, her skirts hiked up in her hands and her face flushed red.

“Bernice!” Anne exclaimed, breathless from rushing across the room. She pulled Abner up by the arm. “They’re here! They’re here!”

Abner smiled and brushed the soot off her skirts. Her heart beat a little faster, excited for the chance to see that mountain of a man again.

“You should see them!” Anne continued to fawn. “The royal guards pale compared to the Inquisition! They have the most beautiful horses, and the most interesting people! The Inquisitor is so gorgeous, and I saw a Qunari!” She flushed even deeper red and looked dreamily back toward the door. “And you should see this warrior, Bernice! He was so tall, with this beautiful dark hair…”

Abner’s heart skipped a little, tugged by a bit of hope. It sounded like James, but she wouldn't know until she  _ saw  _ him.

“Let’s go see this Inquisition, then,” Abner said in the thick Ferelden accent she had adopted as part of her disguise, along with her false name. Anne squealed a little and slipped her arm through Abner’s, dragging her from the room.

She was led to the main foyer, and they crept up to a balcony’s edge to look down and see the King and Queen greeting the arriving Inquisition. King Alistair stood tall in the middle of the room, his sandy-ginger hair brushed back and a gleaming sword on his hip. His wife, Lymeria, stood at his side, a dark dress hanging loosely from her shoulders, contrasting with her unbelievably pale skin. Her bright red hair was pulled back up and away from her face and shoulders in an intricate braid, though a thick fringe of hair cut across her forehead. Dark black tattoos circled both of her eyes, and Abner could almost see the icy blue of her eyes as they bore into the Inquisitor’s. 

Samahl’tu stood shorter than the both of them, but his presence was no less demanding. His clothes were cut with striking lines and bold colors, his black hair braided and falling over his shoulder, freckles clearly visible from the balcony, dark vallaslin framing his eyes much like the Queen’s. Dorian stood just behind him, along with the rest of the Inquisition.

Abner’s heart stuttered. He was here, standing next to The Iron Bull, his hair a little shorter and his beard a little longer, but looking just as beautiful in his armor, with his own sword strapped to his back.

“Do you see him?” Anne asked breathlessly. “With the beard?” Abner couldn’t help but smirk at the desire in her voice, the obvious attraction the girl had already developed for James. Honestly, Abner couldn’t blame her. She was finding it harder to breathe herself.

“He’s so handsome,” Anne continued blissfully.

Abner grinned as she watched James. He stepped forward when the Inquisitor and Dorian moved aside, waiting as Cullen greeted the King and Queen, and then introduced Naomi. James stepped up after her, nodding stoically where his sister had smiled. He was every ounce the man Abner had left in that Chantry two months before, and her body started to heat at the thought of having him again.

“What are you grinning about?” Anne asked, snapping Abner’s attention back. A look of disappointment crossed Anne’s face. The girl was never able to keep her emotions hidden. “Don’t tell me you want him too!” she whined.

Abner suppressed the urge to laugh. If Anne only knew how many times she’d already had him, and  _ how  _ she’d had him, she’d probably run off blushing. The girl was sweet, and liked to ogle the armored men in the palace, but Abner doubted she had ever acted on those desires.

But Abner wasn’t supposed to have slept with James, not as far as anyone in the palace knew. She wasn’t supposed to know anyone from the Inquisition. Makeup covered her tattoos and headscarves hid her hair as best as possible to keep anyone from recognizing her. So she shook her head. “I’m actually admiring the Qunari,” she lied, nodding toward Bull. “Now there’s a man I’d like to get to know.”

Anne’s eyes widened. “He’s so  _ big. _ Don’t you think it would… hurt?”

Yes, the girl was innocent, and Abner shrugged. “I’d be willing to find out,” she said, giving Anne a small poke in the ribs. “Come on, we’ll get in trouble if we’re caught out here.”

Anne threw one last look at James and the rest of the Inquisition, then returned with Abner through the passages off the main foyer. But when they parted ways, Abner circled back toward the center of the palace, her heart racing. She needed to find James as soon as possible. It had been so long, she hadn’t been with  _ anyone _ since their night in the Chantry, and she was desperate to be near him, to touch him, to feel him…

She found James being led to his rooms with Bull and Blackwall. She hurried through side passages and rooms so she could get ahead of them and approach from the front. She walked forward, her eyes trained on James, and watched as he looked at her, then let his eyes slide away, not recognizing her through the makeup and clothes she was wearing.

She suppressed a grin and bumped into him, hard, as they passed, her skin sparking when he reached out on instinct to steady her. Always a gentleman. “Oh, sorry,” he said, and her heart sang hearing his voice. His gorgeous green and blue eyes looked into hers and she trembled. “I didn’t see you…”

His voice trailed off, and she smiled broadly as recognition settled on his face. “Abner?”

“It’s Bernice, actually,” she said, exaggerating her fake accent.

A huge smile broke over his face, and before she could take in its beauty he had pulled her into a hug. He squeezed her tight and she held him back, though it did cross her mind that it wasn’t the best way to keep her cover. But she was too excited to care. She couldn’t feel his body through his armor, but the embrace left her warm nonetheless, and she wanted to stay there forever.

However, after a few seconds, she decided they’d had enough. For now. “Alright, alright,” she said quietly, batting him away. She didn’t want to let him go, but they really needed to be more discreet. “You’re not supposed to know me.” She glanced around, and thankfully, the others had continued down the hall - the guide hadn’t even noticed their reunion.

“Right,” James replied, matching her tone. Then he frowned. “But I want to see you. I came so we could be together…”

Abner smacked him playfully on the ass, stomach flipping hearing how he had come for  _ her _ , and pushed him toward the others. “That can be arranged. Just get away from them.”

James rushed ahead with a little grunt and Abner giggled at his enthusiasm. But he obviously didn’t have much of a plan when he reached the others and got Blackwall and Bull’s attention. “Hey, um... I left something with Naomi and um…” He glanced back at Abner, and she could see him struggling to remember her assumed name. It was endearing, how distracted he got around her.

“Bernice,” Abner reminded him with a smirk, sending a wink toward Bull. She could tell the giant qunari recognized her, and she almost laughed at the knowing grin he gave James.

“Bernice is going to show me how to get back there,” James continued, oblivious to Bull’s amusement.

“Fine,” Blackwall said, not recognizing Abner. She wasn’t surprised. She’d spent little time with the bearded ‘Warden’. “Just remember, we are expected at dinner soon.”

“Yeah, right,” James said absently, already turning and following Abner back down the hall. She was nearly skipping at his side, turning them into a smaller hall as soon as she could, down and through secluded, empty passages. She slipped her hand into his, and felt like she was floating when he squeezed it back. She was not used to being so excited to see someone, but it was becoming a common thing with James. Having him back at her side felt right, and she was happier than she had been in months.

Since she’d seen him last.

“You’ve been here this entire time?” James asked as they passed through an empty study. She looked up to see him studying the rich tapestries on the walls.

“Yeah,” she said, slowing a little so he could get a better look.

“Doing what?”

“Cleaning fireplaces.”

He winced and looked back at her. “That sounds awful.”

Abner shrugged. “Not the worst thing I’ve done, and the food’s good.”

He smirked. “Not that my life’s been that much more exciting.”

“Still stuck in Skyhold?”

He nodded. “Yeah. That’s why I was so glad to hear that Sam was coming here. I made sure I was included. I wanted to see you.”

Abner’s heart fluttered, and she moved them from the room. He was too charming, too adorable. She loved it, but right now she wanted to see him raw, wild. He made her feel alive, and she needed that after these months.

Her own chambers weren’t private enough, so Abner sought other accommodations. James seemed to enjoy the fancier trimmings the palace had to offer, so she led him toward the royal wing. Finding that the guards meant to watch the royal quarters were distracted by a game of dice - apparently expecting the King and Queen to be gone for some time - Abner grinned wickedly with an idea.

She pulled him down the hall, pressing a finger to her lips to keep him silent. He followed, a confused frown pulling together his brows. She knelt in front of the door and pulled a pick from her skirts, quickly unlocking the royal quarters.

“Abner, are you sure…?” James whispered.

“Hush,” she said back, turning the handle and pulling him inside.

James resisted, only for a second, his mouth gaping open as they entered the enormous bedroom. His eyes blown wide, taking in the gold trimming, intricate carvings and paintings, including a portrait of the royal couple, and the silks and velvets draping the walls. And the bed, huge and surrounded by a thick crimson canopy, in the center of the room.

“Abner, we can’t be in here!” James whispered.

“They won’t be back for hours! They’re meeting with Sam and all that.”

“Yeah, but still…”

Abner chuckled, careful to keep quiet so as not to draw the guard’s attention. “Oh come on, what happened to your sense of adventure?” She winked at him and shook her ass a little, pulling him forward. “I’ll give you a reward for breaking the rules.”

James groaned, sending a shiver through Abner’s body, but followed her deeper into the room. He stopped once the door was closed softly behind them, looking around the chambers once again with his mouth hanging opened. Abner watched him, grinning. She’d already seen the room multiple times, but she loved the look of awe James got when he looked at something beautiful. It reminded her of the way he looked at  _ her. _

After another moment his eyes finally settled on her, and a smile crookedly crossed his face. He stepped toward Abner, reaching for her, and she teasingly stepped back, leading him toward the bed. His smile turned a little wicked and he chased her, though she only let him catch her once they were at its foot. He wrapped his hands around her waist, bent down, and kissed her, letting out a small contented sound when their lips met. She had missed the feel of those lips pressed against hers, and she clutched him back, savoring him for a long, long moment.

Soon, though, James was tugging on her clothes, trying to find a way under her dress. Abner laughed, and guided his hands to the ties that would give him the easiest access. While he worked to unclothe her, she reached for his own armor, unbuckling and tugging loose the pieces, letting them fall to the ground with satisfying clangs.

It wasn’t long before her dress was pooled on the ground around her feet, and James was down to his breeches. Abner dropped to her knees and loosed his boots, then kissed her way up his stomach while he kicked them off. She opened the front of his pants, and he groaned when she slipped her hand down the front, wrapping her fingers around his cock. He pulled his smalls and pants the rest of the way off while Abner stroked his shaft, and she gasped when he grabbed her around the ass and lifted her into the air.

“I’ve missed you, Abner,” he growled, maneuvering them toward the bed. “Since the day you left.”

She wrapped her legs around his waist and giggled, rocking her hips against his body and kissing her way down his neck. He lowered her gently to the blankets, groaning when Abner sucked on his pulse. The scruff covering his jaw and neck tickled her lips and she hummed with pleasure, shivering when he pressed her into the bed.

His hands ran over her body and he captured her lips once more. She wrapped one arm around his neck and let the other wander over his body, dancing over smooth, warm skin and clenching muscles. She breathed his scent in deeply and rolled her body against his, reacquainting herself with the feel of him. He straddled her leg and rutted, his cock, stiff and hot, dragging against her. She gasped, her sex pulsing, wanting that length inside of her.

She pushed him away and flipped over to her stomach, crawling further onto the bed. She looked over her shoulder and grinned, wagging her ass toward him. “You know, they say Fereldans fuck like Mabari,” she joked, spreading her legs a little wider and arching her back. She watched him stare at her, already wet for him, pleasure building even more in her core when he bit at his lip.

“Is that so…?” he rumbled, sliding toward her and grabbing her hip with one hand. The other he brought to her entrance, rubbing his fingers along her slickened folds. Sparks shot through Abner and she clenched, letting out a small moan. “Fuck, you’re so wet.” Abner grinned and moved with him, gasping when his fingers brushed against her clit. Then he sank his fingers deep inside of her with one sudden thrust. Abner cried out and grasped the blankets, lightning shooting through her body, heart racing at the thrill he gave her.

She ground back against his hand while he pumped along her walls, pressure gathering as he curled his fingers along all the right places. Those places he knew how to hit after so many times together, working her to readiness so fast she was left gasping.

She couldn’t take it any longer, without him inside her. It had been too long. “James,” she moaned the words and arched her back further, “Fuck me, already! Please...”

He withdrew his fingers and pulled her closer, pressing his cock against her entrance. He grasped her hips and rubbed the tip through her folds, coating himself in her arousal, teasing her.

She couldn’t stand it.

“James!”

With one bold stroke, he pressed into her, nearly to the hilt, hissing when Abner clenched around him. “Heilige kak,” he grunted, pulling back and thrusting forward again. Abner closed her eyes and pushed back against him, groaning, deep and guttural, as he filled and stretched her. He bent down and pressed his lips between her shoulders, still pumping into her with sharp thrusts. “Is this how they do it here? You want to get fucked hard from behind like a warhound?”

Abner whimpered and nodded, keening softly with every drive of his cock into her cunt. His mouth left her back and he straightened, grabbing her hips and moving into her with increasingly powerful strokes. Each pass drove her closer to her climax, and Abner gripped the bed, delighting in the wet slaps that filled the royal chambers as they moved together, and the moans that rumbled from James’s throat.

After a moment James bent back down and kissed the base of her neck again, nipping at her with teeth, pushing her that much closer to the edge. He sucked and kissed his way to her ear, still pumping frantically. “I’ve dreamed of this for weeks,” he growled, driving into her hard and deep, and she knew she would be sore for hours, days, after. “All I could think about was how good you feel wrapped around my cock...how dirty you like it.” His hot breath panted against the shell of her ear between his words and thrusts. “You’re always so tight and ready for me. Always wanting it so badly. You miss it too, don’t you?”

His low voice in her ear, whispering those dirty words, sent Abner spiraling over the edge. She came, crying out to her gods in ecstasy. He felt so much tighter inside of her as he rode through her orgasm. But he didn’t stop moving.

“Fuck, James, that’s amazing,” she gasped, trembling with pleasure from the friction of his length against her even more sensitive walls. “Yeah, I fucking missed your hard cock…”

James groaned and pulled them down to the bed. Still inside of her he pressed his chest against her back. The change in position excited her, and she loved how his body pressed fully against hers, their legs tangling together.

His arm came over her body and his hand lightly grasped her neck. He moved inside of her, slowly grinding his hips into hers. The most intense sensations from her orgasm had passed, and she felt herself starting to climb again from the firm, intense movement of him still hard inside of her. He tilted her head back and propped himself up, kissing her cheek and the corner of her mouth. She reached back and grasped him back, burying her fingers in his hair and rolling her hips with his.

It was almost overwhelming, that slow, sure grind of his cock in her sex. He filled her completely, and it filled her with happiness to have him back with her. Her life had been a dull shadow compared to the moments she was with him, and now she was shining.

Kissing her lips, he lowered his hand and grasped her breast, alternating between twisting and pinching her nipple, and squeezing handfuls of flesh. He was moaning and gasping with her, moving gently, but firmly. For several moments they writhed against each other, until she felt him getting close to finishing, his thrusts turning from gentle to frantic. The constant aching pleasure of him inside of her felt too good to end, but his kisses were growing breathy and sloppy, and his grip on her body bordered on pain.

Abner reached between her legs and rubbed at her slick, swollen clit. It didn’t take much before she was shaking and fisting the blankets in her free hand, balancing on the precipice.

“I’m going to come,” she gasped into his kiss, her heart pounding in her ears, in her chest, and between her legs. She moved her fingers faster, chasing her pleasure. “Come with me!”

James growled and snapped his hips into hers, taking a handful of her breast in his hand. He pounded into her roughly, moaning, and as Abner clenched and fell into another orgasm, her mind went blank, save the pleasure rocking through her body. She felt his cock grow, pulsing with her own heartbeat as his warm seed spread inside of her.

Panting and covered in sweat, they lay together for several moments. James lazily kissed her jaw, down to her neck, and back to her ear. Abner basked in the glow of him, breathing in time with his own breaths. She loved lying next to him like this after they fucked, loved feeling his hot, spent body pressed against hers. He somehow managed to make every time they were together special, intimate. No matter how frantically or passionately they began, it always ended like this. Close, connected… affectionate.

“I’ve missed you too,” James whispered after a moment, his hands and mouth gently exploring her skin. “Everything about you. There are so many times I just wanted to talk, and you were all the way over here. I hate not seeing you for so long.”

She hated it too. Hated that they had known each other for months, but only spent a handful of days together. She wanted more of him: more time, more talking, more fucking… just  _ more. _

And that worried her... 

She didn’t develop feelings like this, didn’t long for a single person, especially after months apart. She didn’t let  _ others  _ develop those feelings for her, either. But somehow, through these handfuls of encounters, he had managed to work through most of her defenses, and she found herself more satisfied with him than she could ever remember. She wanted only him.

But she didn’t know how to tell him that. Didn’t know if she wanted to.

The door rattled, and they pulled away from each other in a heartbeat, muttering curses under their breaths. Abner jumped from the bed and scrambled for her clothes, still puddled by the foot of the bed. She barely managed to get her skirts up around her hips before the door opened, and King Alistair and Queen Lymeria walked into the room.  _ Their  _ room.

Abner glanced at James and grinned when she saw him covering his bits with his tunic, staring at the royals, horrified. Abner rolled back her shoulders, not as bashful as James, and looked confidently at the king and queen.

“Hey, your majesties.”

Lymeria glared back, her pale blue eyes peering out from the dark rims of her tattoos. But Alistair just chuckled, his eyes dropping for a brief second to Abner’s breasts.

“Leliana warned us about you when you were sent to us,” Lymeria said.

“We really should get better guards,” Alistair added, still chuckling and now flushing pink. “Though I’m a little disappointed it took this long to find you in our bed.”

“Oh, you know,” Abner said, waving her hand in the air. “I’ve been working my way up to it.” She looked at James and winked. “Besides, he wanted a tour.”

Lymeria sighed and Alistair smiled at her. “Oh come now dear, where’s your sense of humor?”

“Excuse me for wishing our guards could at least keep the  _ maids _ from entering our chambers without cause.”

“She’s not a maid,” Alistair reminded her.

Lymeria shook her head and reached to remove her cape. Her icy gaze returned to James, who was still standing nearly naked in front of her. “Well, if you don’t mind, we must prepare for dinner.” She moved toward the washroom. “Send someone to change the bedding.”

“You’ll want to get back to the others,” Alistair told James, smirking as the dark-haired man resumed dressing.

James was bright red, and Abner  _ almost  _ felt bad for dragging him there. But it had been too much fun, and it was too much fun to tease him. She was still glowing when they slipped back into the hall.

He pulled her into a kiss once they were alone - or alone as they could be, with guards right outside the door - and disguise be damned, Abner let him.

“Come to my room tonight,” he breathed when he pulled back. “Please… I can’t wait months without you again.”

Abner smiled, slipping her hand around his neck and holding him close. Somehow, this mountain of a warrior had wormed his way into her heart, into a place she had long kept guarded. And nervous as she was to let him stay there, she had a feeling he wouldn’t hurt her. Not like the others.

So she nodded, and kissed him again. “I’ll come.”

 

\--

 

James was furious. Well, perhaps  _ furious _ was not the correct word, but whatever he was, he was feeling it furiously. 

His dull training sword smashed into the training dummy over and over and over. Sweat dripped down his face, down his back - everything was drenched with salty liquid. He grunted and bashed and grunted and bashed, taking out his frustration on the stupid lifeless thing in front of him.

He tried not to think about it, he tried not to admit he was acting this way because of it, but he couldn’t help himself. His mind continually filtered back to the smile on his sister’s face. She had been glowing. And why wouldn’t she? She was getting everything that she never even knew she wanted.

She was getting everything that James always knew he wanted.

His heart raced and hammered in his chest so hard that a normal person might fear for their lives. But not James. He didn’t fear for any of that. No need. Besides, at that point, perhaps a little cardiac arrest would actually make him feel alive…

He turned and paced away from the training dummy, shoulders rising and falling rapidly with each strong breath. Naomi’s words were relentlessly replaying in his mind. “I’m getting married, James,” she’d said.

_ I’m getting married. _

Cullen had done it. He’d proposed to James’s sister. James was happy for her...he guessed. Well, of course he was. But God damn it, it was supposed to have been him. If it wasn’t for getting zapped into this stupid world… If it wasn’t for the fact he’d had to leave his love behind… 

His treacherous mind replayed the memories of the ring he’d bought. Showed him the smile on Makenzie's face. What little of it he could remember, anyway. Because now, like so many things from Earth, the memory of her had faded, too. Ragged and torn around the edges, like an old photograph.

He turned and stared down the dummy. Stilling his rapid breath, he rolled his neck and shoulders. With a powerful scream, he raised his sword and charged forward, connecting his weapon, his body, his everything with the fake man in front of him - all but destroying the thing entirely. Knocked off its support, the dummy fell to the ground, and James hacked at it. He hacked and he hacked, and he grunted, and he begged for the hurt to stop.

All until he heard the words, “I think you killed it.” 

Looking up - his hair loosened from its binding and in his face, plastered in places from all of the sweat - he saw the source of those words.

Abner stood at the end of the row of training dummies. Her hip was cocked to the side, arms crossed at her chest, and a playful smirk on her face. “You sure taught that straw man what’s what,” she said and dropped her arms. Swinging them idly by her sides she strode up to him. Only then did James realize that he was hunched over and gawking at her, and he straightened himself, turning to her in the process.

Watching her while he tried to catch his breath, he swallowed and his mind went blank. He wasn’t expecting to see her, and seeing her… well, he wasn’t exactly sure how he felt about it. But he stared at her. The old torn photo of the girl from Earth fading from his mind, he stared at Abner.

“Aren’t you going to say hello?” she asked.

James wiped the wet hair from his face, tucking the strands behind his ears, and rubbed his hand over his beard. “Hello,” he finally said.

Abner scoffed a little. “Here I thought you’d be excited to see me,” she said and tilted her head to the side, examining him. Sizing him up.

“I’m, sorry,” he said. “I am.” And he was. She was the one person he ever wanted to see, really. But her timing was, well, it was odd to say the least. Though he really should have come to expect that by then. Even with all the months they’ve spent apart, she’d grown to be one of the primary things he thought about. And when they were together... each encounter topped the previous, and he was left wanting more. More of everything about her. But the distance, the months between seeing her, the arm’s length at which she seemed to keep him while they were together… It just made each time he found her a little more exciting, but also a little more confusing.

And with the shit that was on his mind…

At that point, he was starting to wonder if it was with Abner that he would like to spend the rest of his days in Thedas. Like Naomi to Cullen, Abner was the one who made him happy. He hadn’t even been with another woman since their night in the Chantry. He’d learned his lesson on what screwing around with multiple women did to them. What it did to him. What it did to Mayra. Mayra didn’t deserve that. No one did. And if he was being honest with himself, if he had the chance with Abner, to be with her and only her, he wanted to take it.

But he didn’t know how Abner felt. She’d been so casual about everything since they’d met...what was it? A year ago? Mind boggling that she had been affecting him and confounding him for that long, but also, he’d started to forget what life was like without her affecting him and confounding him. A year didn’t seem like quite long enough…

“Are you just going to stand there looking at me like that?” Abner asked, snapping his mind out the the daze he hadn’t realized he’d entered. “Should I...should I go?” She looked up at him with a little worry, a little sadness in her large dark eyes.

“No!” he said a little too loudly and lurched forward as if to stop her from moving, but she had stayed still. “I’m sorry, I’m… my mind was just somewhere else.”

Abner smiled softly and ran her hands down the arms of his sweaty, dirty, training tunic. “Anything I can do to help?” she asked and tipped her face coyly, causing a rush of blood throughout his body. The things one look from her could do to him…

She stepped forward, one hand lightly pushing his sword from his hand until it fell to the ground, the other hand snaking its way around his torso. “I mean, I can think of a few things that could help,” she continued, looking up at him and bumping her hips into his. 

James just stared down at her, feeling a smile grow across his lips. He knew what she wanted but his mind was still too clouded to form a proper response. Abner’s smile grew in return. Laughing, she twined her fingers with his. “Come. I have an idea.”

Abner lead and James followed, winding through Skyhold’s busy courtyard similar to the way she lead him through the palace halls in Denerim not three months before, ultimately taking him up the main stairs and into the Great Hall. Weaving in and out through the gasps and groans of offended nobles, she guided him toward the end of the hall.

Sneaking behind a curtain, she knelt in front of a door and produced her small lock picking set. “Keep watch,” she said and began tinkering.

“Abner,” James whispered over his shoulder as he looked for any nobles that could spot them, but they all seemed to have forgotten their march through the crowd already. “That’s the door to Sam’s tower. What are you doing?”

In response, he heard the metallic  _ click _ of the lock and quickly, Abner pulled at his arm, dragging him inside. Easing the door shut behind them, she locked it again, then spun to lean against it. “I got you in the King and Queen of Ferelden’s bed chambers, didn’t I? What’s wrong with the Inquisitor’s?” She pushed off the door and started climbing the stairs of the tower.

James followed, laughing to himself. “If you’ll remember, we got  _ caught  _ in the royal chambers.”

“We were fine,” she dragged out the word as if he was ridiculous for even bringing it up. “Besides, there’s no one here to catch us this time. Sam’s off on some adventure or something somewhere.” She jogged the rest of the steps and turned to lean against the top bannister. “We have the place all to ourselves.”

Abner reached for his hand as he rounded the final steps. “Plus, he’s got the best bath,” she said, leading him back into the private bathroom of the Inquisitor. “And with what I want to do to you, I don’t think the folks in the bathhouse would understand.”

James had never been in the Inquisitor’s bath before, and he wasn’t sure why Abner already knew how great it was, but he decided perhaps that was a question for later. Because when she opened the door and walked him inside, he really didn’t care anymore.

James stood in a large and luxurious room. There were candles already lit, and everywhere, but there was something weird about them. Magic, James guessed. Some type of enchantment that kept them flickering with a low light while never running out of wick.

Interspersed throughout the candles were bottles after bottles of liquids. James grabbed one made of green glass, uncorked it, and smelled its rich scent. He wasn’t sure what it was, something fruity maybe.

The tub itself was massive. It was made of a drakestone-looking metal, and definitely big enough for two, if not more. James wondered why Sam had such a large tub installed in his quarters until he quickly decided that he really didn’t  _ want _ to know.

Abner bent over the far side of the tub and pressed a rune between two candles. Suddenly, a small, flat slide - or faucet, or something like that - in the middle of the metal tub began pouring steaming water inside. It surprised James to see such sophisticated plumbing. More magic, he reasoned.

“How do you know how to work this stuff?” he asked, impressed and intrigued with how easily she manipulated the magical elements.

“Oh, where I come from people aren’t so uppity about magic. Plus some of the travelin’ I’ve done, seen set-ups like this before. Runes and shit are pretty easy to figure out once you know what to look for.”

It was nice to hear a taste of her life before the Inquisition. Usually they only talked about fighting and missions, but here she had offered a little more insight into her past, and he welcomed it. He wanted to ask her for more, but he was distracted by the way she walked back to him. It was sexy, that walk, and when she reached him, she began to slowly tug at his tunic. 

“What do you say we get cleaned up?”

He smiled and admired her for a moment, pleased to see her how she really looked and no longer in the disguise she wore in Denerim. James couldn’t help himself, she was so beautiful standing there like that, and he pulled his tunic over his head in one fluid motion. As he did, Abner worked the ties of his breeches, inhaling sharply at the pressure of her fingers there. Feeling the pressure of her fingers there made him inhale sharply. 

She left him to finish undressing while she quickly tore off the clothing she wore and kicked off her boots. She grinned at him, eyeing him up and down while biting her lip, before she turned to examine the endless supply of glass bottles.

“How frilly you feelin’?” she asked, picking up some random bottles and smelling them before making a scrunched-up face and placing them back.

“I’d rather not smell like some pampered Orlesian poodle, if you don’t mind.”

Abner snorted and laughed loudly, a reaction that left James feeling flushed. “No, let’s not do that.” 

She grabbed and smelled a few more bottles until finding something that made her moan a pleasant sound. “This should do it!” she exclaimed and began pouring a milky white liquid into the bath.

The smell was pleasant, like vanilla and probably some kind of flower that James would never know the name of, but it wasn’t frilly. It was darker than that...something seductive about it. Seemed the perfect choice as far as he was concerned, and before she could finish placing the bottle back on its shelf, he wrapped his arms around her from behind.

Lifting her, he stepped into the large tub and eased them both into the perfectly warm water. He let his lips trail down her neck as she writhed and moaned against him. 

One hand caressing her breast, he let the other glide gingerly down her body until he found the nub of nerves between her legs. Her pressed and circled his fingers around it as she gasped and pressed her back against his chest. Her legs and hips bucked and squirmed, and she let out soft cries that made his cock ache.

He held her there, though, trapped and wiggling under his attentions as he whispered little things into her ear. Little things he’d come to learn that she loved to hear, and little things that he’d come to learn he loved to tell her.

One of her hands had traveled around her back to grab at him. First it was nails digging into his skin while he listened to her approach the edge, then it was fingers wrapping around his cock while her back arched to allow her to pump and massage him.

The water splashed and the aromas of the bath, their sweat, and their sex filled the room. Their echoed cries and words ricocheted off the walls while the abundant candles flickered around them. James’s fingers worked her and worked her, his voice told her anything she wanted to hear, and he adored the sounds of her climbing higher and higher because of him. He followed her easily, the sensations of everything driving him to another world. 

He followed her as she screamed and shook under his hands, yelling out in that strange language of hers and gasping for breath. He followed her as she came, his teeth lightly biting into her shoulder while he watched her breasts rapidly rise and fall and listened to her foreign words.

He followed her as she calmed and swallowed air, and tried to regain her mind. He followed her as her body relaxed within his grasp and he loosened his hold. And he followed her as she pleasantly giggled soft breathy sounds, the feel of her shoulders pressed against his chest giving him a sense of completeness he hadn’t known in a long time...

Nestled between his legs, Abner rested contently against James’s chest. Having her there like that made him feel warm. Closer to her. She took a cloth and dribbled water down his thigh protruding from the water.

“Feel better?” she asked.

He wasn’t really sure how to answer that question. In some ways, yes. He did feel better. In other ways, no. He didn’t. The same problems and frustrations were still there, and one fuck in a tub wasn’t going to change that. But he didn’t want to offend her, so he decided to lie. “Yeah, I do.”

Her fingers idly played in the water, making tiny ripples in the surface, kicking her fingertips out like they were kicking in a puddle. “What was eating at you, anyway?”

James caught his breath for a moment, freezing still and unsure of what to say. They both knew that he was a terrible liar, but he wasn’t sure how to tell her something so personal, or how she’d react. Would she laugh at him and think him stupid for being upset about something like marriage?

Her fingers stopped playing in the water when she felt him hesitate. “You can tell me,” she said. She said it in a way that made him believe her, and he inhaled deeply.

“My sister,” he began, “she told me that she’s getting married.”

“That made you want to murder a straw man?”

Her question hung in the thick steamy air until he watched her hand glide through the water, find his, and lace their fingers together.

James swallowed hard. “It wasn’t that, exactly. It was more about how…” His words stuck in his throat. He’d never told anyone in Thedas about Makenzie. Naomi was the only person who knew anything about her. 

“It’s okay,” Abner whispered, but there was a sadness in her voice. “You don’t have to tell me.”

But he wanted to tell her. He wanted to tell her everything. If it wasn't for the fact that it left him so open, so raw and vulnerable, when he still wasn’t even sure if she only thought of him as a casual hook up. A friend with benefits.

But something in him pushed for him to take the chance, if just a little bit, and see if maybe, just maybe, she would be responsive to it.

“I was engaged once.” The words began to flood out of him. “I lost her, though. A couple years ago. And I guess, I was just upset because what my sister is getting was something I wanted. Something I had, but I lost. I want to be supportive for her, but it’s hard. So...I was taking out my frustrations on that thing when you found me.”

Abner remained silent. Her fingers were still wrapped with his, but he wished he could see her face. She stretched her legs, poked her toes out from the milky water, and wiggled them. James’s heart thundered in his chest while he worried about what she was thinking, but was not sure what, or if, he should say anything else.

But after few long and excruciating moments, Abner broke the silence. 

“I was married once.”

The admission was substantial, so much so that he wondered if he’d heard her right. “You...were married?” he heard himself ask.

“Yeah,” she said with a sigh. She pulled their hands out of the water, fidgeting as her fingers danced around his. “He’s dead now.”

For the first time, James wondered if he and Abner had more in common than he’d ever realized. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he said softly as his heart began to calm. She was actually kind of opening up to him...

“Don’t be,” she said and sat upright in the water. She reached for a coarse sponge and set it in his right hand. “I killed him. Will you get my back?”

James sat there, even more stunned than before, and recounting his earlier thought of commonality. 

“Relax,” she said, nudging his right hand. “He was foul. Deserved it. You’da helped me, had you been there.”

James’s hand moved to dip the sponge in the water and rang it out. They were actions carried without thought, for his eyes were frozen on the back of her head as she pulled her hair over her shoulder. He wanted her to turn around, wanted to read her face, but she stayed with her back to him. His unsure hand lifted the sponge to swipe it across her shoulder blades.

“What, um..” He cleared his throat to scrub away his uncertainty. “What happened?”

“Once upon a time,” she started, jokingly. “I was weak. Didn’t have the strength I do now, and he took advantage of that. Granted, my mouth was always this way, and that didn’t help me any...but I got away.” She took a deep breath as James swished the sponge through the water, rang it out again, and continued rubbing it across her back. “I got away and I got strong. When I saw him again, he was involved in some bad stuff. Even the Inquisition took notice. I wasn’t alone, but I was lucky enough to give the final blow.”

Abner lifted her left arm above her head, her right wrapped around the front of her, and she twisted so that he could see her point to a large gash of a scar on her ribs. “He left me this, though. A reminder,” she said.

The fingers on his left hand lightly grazed the scar. He looked up at her, finally seeing her face since this intense conversation began. “I’m sorry you went through that.”

As if for the first time, he noticed something in her eyes. They were always so big and dark, and full of something. But he realized then they were full of the stories she kept hidden. They  _ were  _ similar in that sense, he supposed. They each held secrets close to their hearts.

But she’d now allowed him to share in one of those stories, and he with her, and there was a profound feeling in his chest as he gazed at her.

Her tongue slipped out and drew her lower lip between her teeth as her eyebrows knitted together. “What was she like?” she asked. “How did you lose her?”

James cleared his throat again and darted his eyes away while scratching the back of his head. “She, uh, she died...got sick before I left the Anderfels,” he lied, and quickly kept talking so that maybe she would not press for more information. “She was amazing… Quiet, but smart and kind, and she always made me laugh.”

“I’m sorry you lost her,” Abner said and looked down into the water. They sat there silently for a few moments, and James basked in the closeness he finally felt with her. 

Abner broke the silence though, with a small splash of water in his direction and a light igniting in her expression. “Well this got serious, eh?” She stood on slightly wobbly legs, water cascading down her naked body in such a way that James couldn’t help but marvel in it, in  _ her _ . 

“What do ya say we go get some food?” she said as she stepped out from the tub. “I heard Cabot got a shipment of some really weird Dwarven stuff. I’m curious to see what it’s all about.”

James smiled, but it was reluctant. He had enjoyed those moments with Abner and didn’t want them to end, but he agreed and joined her in drying off and getting dressed. As he watched her finish, slipping her sleeveless shirt over her head and reaching for her boots, he took his opportunity to push a little further.

“You know,” he said and she paused to look at him. “You can talk to me about that stuff whenever you want. I like getting to know you...the real you.”

Abner smiled and slipped on the boots she never seemed to lace, and reached for his hand. She cocked her head toward the door and wiggled her fingers until he finished lacing his breeches and grabbed her hand.

“Me, too. C’mon.” 


End file.
